Human Capital December 11 Issue - Low Res

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HUMAN CAPITAL
realising business strategy through people
Vol.15 No. 7 December 2011
CASE STUDY
Pg 68
Creative onboarding with work shadowing at Nokia India

Page 60
Using assessment centers to map competencies

Page 32
Shouvick Mukherjee VP & CEO of Yahoo! India on breathing innovation

Page 52
Democratizing leadership: A young leaders vision

Page 56
India Inc. gears up to create a talent pipeline
Contents
COVER STORY
18
Mentoring for 2020 workplaces
A look at how mentoring can create a strong and talented workforce for the future...
December 2011 Volume 15 Issue 7
FEATURES
32
Mapping competencies with assessment centres
Assessment centres have become a pertinent tool for organizations to make better decisions about hiring and developing people at various levels of their work life through methods that align well with the role and business objectives!
42
Redefining careers in india

Employees hitting a career advancement ceiling poses a serious challenge to companies in India. An overemphasis on managerial careers may be one factor driving this persistent trend.
48 56
Political savvy
Winning when only hard work and talent is not enough.
Democratizing leadership
The momentum of democracy that is deep rooted in many historic political settings has now entered the spheres of corporate world. For instance, the process of voting is not new to businesses - there have been shades of voting in shareholder and board meetings, however, with the incarnation of social media, voting is utilized in everything from what goes into a product to
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what goes into management. Dell's IdeaStorm is one of the impressive examples of organizations directly seeking votes from their customers to determine what to produce. At IdeaStorm one can contribute new product ideas, review and vote the product ideas for Dell to produce. This method of seeking the votes of consumers (and stakeholders) is established to be a competitive advantage for businesses. McKinsey describes this as 'Big Data' - 'the method of gathering and applying inputs of each customer interface and transaction'. In fact, a great management thinker, Professor C. K. Prahalad has coined the word 'co-creation', and we are witnessing 'the democratization of the industry', where 'organizations are built for, by and of people'. Similarly, 'vote leadership' has to become the focus of organizations in order to achieve co-creation in corporates. Democracy is all encompassing. Policy makers can start looking at workplace practices that are well suited with democratic values. Sangeeth Varghese, a young globally acknowledged leadership thinker in a tete-a-tete with Human Capital, shares his views on the need to democratize leadership in Indian corporates and how to go about achieving it!
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December 2011
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HR PRACTICE
60
Shadowing at Nokia
Nokia India promotes a one week window into the world of Nokia top leaders for new joinees!
CASE STUDY
68
Dual reporting puzzle
The reporting structure of an organization describes how power and control is run throughout the organization which displays how the lines of control reach the different functional areas and geographies. Akin to the problems of a matrix organization, the quote of an anonymous person, "Credit is drawn upwards, but, problems are pushed downwards" suits this case well!
COLUMNS
10 64 66 78 88
Food for thought by Dileep Ranjekar Psychology at work by Manavi Pathak A point of view by Gautam Brahma HR tools by V.S.Gurumani HR in MSMEs by Sumeet Varghese
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PERSONA
80
A change of course
Moving from the education and marketing sector, Shalini Kamath has made her mark as a successful human resources professional. Her aspiration: to work as a catalyst to change people's drive towards being passionate about what they choose to do.
REGULARS
8 12 16 92 96
Editorial Research On the Agenda Legal Q & A Career Tracks
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December 2011
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Social reforms begin at home
I
Dileep Ranjekar
was thrilled to read the news item on the front page of leading English daily today. The heading screamed "Minor Girl Recovered from the House of a Businessman in Mangalore!" The girl hailed from a very poor family of a remote place in Karnataka and was recovered from a big businessman's house. She has been sent for medical examination and will be also evaluated for any physical abuse. The details are not known and may be the businessman had no illegal motives. What is important is that the labour department in collaboration with the home department raided the house on information that such a minor girl was being deployed as child labour and that they are investigating the matter further. I wish similar raids are made on the houses of the senior Corporate managers in several cities in India. I know of some senior managers deploying minor children to perform household chores, after having transported them from their native places. These children perform all kinds of duties such as taking care of younger children (sometimes barely a few years younger than them) or cooking or fetching grocery items or cleaning the house. In return, the children are provided with meals (that are often leftovers), substandard living conditions and practically no salary.
Above all, they don't think that employing these children amounts to employing child labour which is a criminal offence. Some of them think - they are doing great favour to the children by providing food, clothing and shelter - which they otherwise would not have gotten. It does not occur to them that - like their own children, they too have a right to be educated and right to a childhood that is pleasant, informative and filled with love and care. What is worse - I know the story of one senior colleague in the corporate world - who, alongwith his wife, used to regularly beat the young girl in their house - for several reasons - ranging from eating sugar without their permission to not being able to stop the crying of their younger daughter. Probably the most hilarious incident was of our interview with a senior Human Resources Professional. He had expressed a keen desire to work with the social sector. Within the social sector, he had chosen to work for the rights of young girls and boys who are exploited by the society. On some more discussion we found that his wife, after a gap of about 6 years, was planning to rejoin employment as an IT professional. This had helped the HR professional to take financial risks. Since he had a five year old child, we were discussing how he planned to take care of the child. He
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December 2011
FOOD FOR THOUGHT

explained that he has brought a young girl from his native place to look after his child. After he saw the expressions on the faces of the members of interviewing panel he instantly felt ashamed of what he was stating. He agreed that it was not proper - but defended that in the given situation, he and his wife had not option I remember the pleasant surprise that we experienced when we had invited His Excellency the President of India as the Chief Guest for an All India Learning Conference that Azim Premji Foundation organized in 2003. The purpose of the conference was to promote the concept of "quality school education in India" and provide a platform to present several experiments and views on the same. We boldly explained to the office of the Honourable President of India that we would not be following several formalities in the said function. We explained that we would not be arranging the usual ceremonial high back chair, there would be no red carpet, no garlands, no lighting of the lamp etc. And we were told that the Honorable President would be very happy if we don't do any of these. It was such a pleasure dealing with a simple person. We carried conviction that as a not-for-profit organization, we must initiate that change. I would also like to immensely laud what the organizers of the recently concluded National HRD Network Conference in Bangalore did. Here is a mail they sent to each speaker in the conference:
Dear friends:
Thank you for accepting our invitation to speak at the NHRD National Conference. It is customary in conferences to honour speakers with a memento. Moving away from tradition, we have decided to instead sponsor in your names, the education of 15 underprivileged children in SOS Children's Village http:// www.soscvindia.org/ for one full year. By being a speaker at the "NHRD Network 15th National Conference" you would be making a significant difference to our valued delegates and to the education of deserving children. A question was also raised in the Education Session of the conference - as to what NHRDN, Industry Association and the HR Professionals could do to contribute to education status in India. It is an important question that shifts the focus to "How can I contribute to a national problem" instead of having a general discussion. If we want to make a change in the society - we have to begin it from ourselves. I think each one of us has a responsibility and "power" to contribute to national and social issues. And it can begin from a simple act of being responsible, being sensitive to fellow citizens, not breaking the law or helping someone in leading a better life. Rather than feeling helpless at the enormity of the problem, we can just address the issues within "our sphere of influence". HC
Dileep Ranjekar, Chief Executive Officer of Azim Premji Foundation, is also a passionate student of human behaviour. He can be contacted at dkr@azimpremjifoundation.org.
December 2011
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RESEARCH
Young workers working patterns
ercer's What's Working research shows that young workers worldwide present an unusual paradox for employers: They are more likely than the overall workforce to be satisfied with the organizations for which they work, yet also more likely to be considering leaving them. These insights come from nearly 30,000 workers in 17 geographic markets during the fourth quarter of 2010 through the second quarter of 2011. Nearly 10,000 workers across five markets in Asia Pacific were surveyed including Hong Kong, Singapore, India, China, and Australia. According to the survey findings, workers aged 34 and younger are more likely than their older colleagues in all 17 markets to be pondering an exit from their employer. In response to the question, "At the present time, I am seriously considering leaving my organization," the youngest workers (age 16-24) recorded scores of agreement that average 10 percentage points higher than the
overall workforce worldwide, while scores for workers aged 25-34 displays an average five percentage points higher. In India and Singapore, workers aged 16-24 scored twelve and fourteen percentage points higher, respectively, than the overall market scores, while in Hong Kong those 25-34 years of age scored
seven percentage points higher than overall market score. Yet despite this propensity to leave, when asked about overall satisfaction with their organizations, younger workers registered
satisfaction scores higher than the overall workforce in most markets. Scores for employees aged 16-24 were higher in 14 of the 17 markets worldwide by an average of five percentage points. Scores for employees aged 25-34 were higher in 11 of the 17 markets by an average of two percentage points globally. Once again, this trend is particularly prominent in India and Singapore where employees aged 16-24 scored seven and twelve percentage points higher, respectively, compared to overall market scores across all age groups when asked about overall satisfaction with their organization. These same two age groups are also more likely to recommend their organization as a good place to work. Scores for employees aged 16-24 were higher than the overall workforce by an average of seven percentage points globally, and their scores were higher in all 17 markets. Meanwhile, scores for workers aged 25-34 are higher in 13 of the 17 markets by an average of three percentage points above the overall workforce scores. In Singapore, employees aged 16-24 scored fifteen percentage points higher and employees aged 25-34 scored six percentage points higher when asked if they would recommend their organization as a good place to work.
n its study, The Myth of the Ideal Worker, Catalyst reveals that more than half of both women and men had adopted the full range of advancement strategies attributed to an ideal worker. Furthermore, half of those exemplifying an ideal worker were also including in their repertories external scanning activities- seeking advancement opportunities whether in their current organization or elsewhere. However, men benefitted more than women when they adopted the proactive strategies of the proverbial ideal worker. Even when women used the same career advancement strategiesdoing all the things they have been told will help them get ahead-they advanced less than their male counterparts and had slower pay growth. To determine what individuals do to advance in their
Playing field for women...

careers, the survey clustered nine tactics grouped into career advancement strategies. The first being 'get trained through experience' i.e. to ask for a variety of work assignments to increase knowledge and skills. Second being 'gaining access to power', which includes identifying the most influential people in the firm; seeking introductions to people in the firm who can influence the career; building a network of contacts with important people in the firm; learning how things "really work" inside the firm; and pushing to be involved with highprofile projects. The third is to 'make achievements
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RESEARCH
visible', comprising of things like ensuring the manager is aware of my accomplishments; seek credit for work done; request additional performance feedback; ask to be considered for a promotion when I feel it's deserved. The fourth is 'blur work-life boundaries' i.e. to communicate my willingness to work long hours and/or weekends. The fifth strategy is to 'get formal training' like proactively develop new skills through training such as courses and workshops. Then, sixth is to 'plan career' by developing a career plan for the next several years and seventh strategy is to 'seek advice when needed' i.e. to seek career advice from co-workers, family, or others about how to improve future work prospects. The eighth strategy is to 'scan for opportunity outside the company' including monitor job advertisements to see what is available outside the firm; maintain an active outside network; stay in touch with executive search firm professionals; and remain informed about my market value. The last one is 'scanning for opportunity inside the company' involves reviewing job postings at my firm to see what career opportunities are available. These career advancement strategies are further grouped into four distinct strategy profiles: Climbers, Hedgers, Scanners, and Coasters. Climbers seek to advance in their current company. Almost onethird of high potentials were "Climbers" (32% of men and 31% of women). Climbers actively used tactics strategically to help them advance within their current organizations, such as asking for a variety of work assignments, ensuring their supervisors know they are willing to work long hours, actively networking with others, and seeking out opportunities for greater visibility. Hedgers use both internal and external career advancement strategies. Onequarter of women (26%) and men (25%) fell into the "Hedgers" category. Relative to their peers, Hedgers by and large scored highly on all career advancement tactics, focusing their energy on potential opportunities both within and outside their current organization. Scanners keep a finger on the pulse of the job market. Approximately one-quarter of high potentials were "Scanners" (28% of women and 24% of men). This group consulted with others on how to improve their future work prospects and conducted continual scans of other job opportunities. They were poised to at least change jobs, if not also organizations. Indeed, on average the Hedgers and Scanners-who were doing external scans for new opportunities-had worked at more companies since completing their MBA than Climbers, whose strategies focused on their current employer. Coasters put less emphasis on all tactics. A perhaps surprising number of these high potentials were "Coasters," relatively inactive when it came to their use of career advancement strategies (19% of men and 14% of women). This group was the least likely to proactively try to advance and scored lowest when compared to their peers on every single career strategy. The findings revealed that only men advanced further and faster when they did "all the right things." For women, adopting the prescribed proactive strategies didn't have the same payoff, although it was slightly better than not doing much at all. Like men in the most proactive groupHedgers-received the greatest advancement payoff. Twice as many men Hedgers (21%) as women Hedgers (11%) had advanced to senior executive/CEO level by 2008. Additionally, compared to other men, male Hedgers had advanced furthest, getting more of a payoff for employing both internally and externally focused advancement strategies, followed by men Climbers, Coasters, and Scanners. Not only did women lag men Hedgers in advancement, there was no difference between women Hedgers, Climbers, or Scanners. While women in the Hedgers group did advance further than Coasters-women doing comparatively less to get ahead-being proactive didn't provide as great an advantage for women Hedgers as it did for men Hedgers. In addition to the discrepancy in payoffs between men and women Hedgers, women lagged men in each of the other three profiles as well. Across all strategy types, men were more likely than women to have reached the senior executive/CEO ranks. The study found that women were less satisfied with their careers than men, which suggests that they aren't intentionally seeking slower career tracks. If they were, we'd expect them to be as satisfied as men with their advancement and compensation growth. Even among the most (Hedgers) and least (Coasters) proactive, men were more satisfied with their advancement than were women. Among Hedgers, 82% of men were somewhat or very satisfied with their rate of promotions compared to 71% of women. Women were also less satisfied than men with their salary and rate of compensation growth. Across all strategy groups, 77% of men were somewhat or very satisfied with their progress at increasing their salary compared to only 66% of women.
December 2011
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RESEARCH
Indians find new flexi 'workplaces'
ecently, a new study shows a rising tide of work in 'third places' that are neither home, nor the company office. Business people in India are increasingly opting for a "Third Place", a flexible working option at a convenient location within the reach of their homes, to reduce travel time and improve their worklife balance. These 'third places' encompass business centres, clubs, libraries and informal areas such as coffee shops. Moreover, the report also reveals that 'third place' working brings a wide range of benefits, including improved work-life balance, reduced stress and improved productivity for the employee, as well as cost-effectiveness, scalability and reduced property commitment for businesses. In fact, the research report from ZZA Responsive User Environments has scotched the myth that flexible working means home-working. The report, which combines data from a global 17,000strong business survey with in-depth qualitative interviews with business people across the world, demonstrates that working in 'third places' - neither office nor home - is the new normal. Major findings from the report: By far the majority of interviewees did not want to work at home. They wanted to work
amongst other people who are working, motivated by the synergy and common purpose of other people working around them, with no distractions, benefitting from access to technology and facilities not available at home, and the freedom to focus on their work in a non-domestic, professional environment. Digital migrants - people who frequently use third spaces come from all age groups;
the research showed no correlation between third place usage and age. Being able to work in a place close to home radically improves people's work-life balance, job satisfaction and productivity. Convenient location was cited by 73% of respondents globally as the top benefit of third place working,
and 68% in India. Being close to home helps third space users to reduce stress, avoid time-wasting commutes, avoid congestion and reduce their carbon footprint. In India, 30% of respondents preferred the third place as it reduced their travelling time. 14.3% of Indian respondents opted for a third place for a 'greener lifestyle' as against 7% globally. 52% of third place workers globally use business centres and lounges for some or all of their working time as against 49.1% in India. 73.8% respondents in India said they preferred business-like environment of a business centre compared to 64% of their global counterparts. 72% of these third place users spend 3+ days a week in their favourite business centre or other third place, and 70% of business centre users find them more productive environments compared to more informal locations. As homes are too diffusely spread for organizations to own space close to all of them, the productive strategy is to leverage professional third places on a supported and coordinated basis. For corporations, third place working reduces property commitments, allows flexible use of facilities on demand, and yet maintains a highly professional business image.
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December 2011
COVER STORY
ng for entori m
2c0s 2r0 la e o kp w
BY ARVA SHIKARI
M
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entoring, which has been followed from centuries now has redefined itself in the recent times, in terms of the way it is executed. Even though one-onone mentoring is still a powerful means to develop employees/leaders, organizations have come up with new forms of mentoring like reverse-, micro- and group- mentoring. Some companies have started job shadowing, peer mentoring, and career mentoring, too. This means mentoring is and will increasingly
become significant for several reasons - the approaching talent shortage, communication technology advancements, high use of social media, globalization, and changing demographics and so on. Plus, the organization of the future will be dependent on superior collaborative working and more global teams. The changing demographics will demand more flexible working. From this, it can be determined that the key to success will be agility - the ability to respond quickly to changing needs -
December 2011
COVER STORY
customer focus and innovation. This means that organizations have to focus more on developing their existing highperforming staff. In this context, it's perhaps not surprising that talent management is a high priority in today's organizations says Hay Group's research report 'Tomorrow's People'. About 63% of respondents said it was a high priority for their chief executive; 70% recognize they need to do things differently if they are to compete effectively for the people they need in the future; 61% say their organizations believe that talent management will be integral to their survival. If talent management exists to cultivate the skills needed to compete in the future, then it isn't working. This research highlights that less than a quarter of participating organizations believe their current talent processes will deliver the leaders they need. In fact, 70% of them feel they needed to change their approach. The report also reveals five critical journeys that talent management must now take to deliver the results expected of it along with one stark warning to talent leaders. The first is from supply to demand. Talent management needs to grow by considering more than the supply of talent (developing talent and building a pipeline). The challenge is to translate strategy into what it means for actual jobs and people. Talent processes need to actively forecast the number, type and challenges of future leadership roles to be filled. A deep understanding of jobs, and how their accountabilities translate into capabilities, will be a key skill. The second journey is from today to tomorrow. Talent management needs to move beyond today's skills and capabilities to consider those the organization will need to survive and compete in the future. Forecasting capabilities which may look very different from the ones needed today is critical to a successful talent strategy. The third journey is from focus to diversity. Organisations need to focus their resources on those most likely to succeed and perform, but, they also need to look into new places for their talent. If there is a shortage of talent, then diversity becomes a competitive as well as an ethical issue. Thus, ignoring any source of talent cannot be afforded. Moreover, there is a need to rethink the design of jobs to permit more people to thrive within them. The fourth journey is from potential to potential for what? One of the greatest obstacles to the delivery of results is an over focus on potential rather than performance (i.e. potential for what?). There are many obstacles to the realization of potential, many derailments on the career path to the top. Talent management needs to be built on detailed assessments of current performance on the 'next best' move for individuals - thus, delivering performance and progressing careers. And the fifth journey is from HR to line managers. HR holds the expertise and the processes, line managers hold the rationale for and the means of operational delivery. Armed with data and shared accountabilities, both must work together to give talent management focus and
A look at how mentoring can create a strong and talented workforce for the future...
purpose. Further, Accenture predicts tomorrow's company will be very different from today's. The new generation of people coming through who have different values and expectations, and the understanding what it will mean to have a much wider range of people working for organizations. The move is from manpower to knowledge-power. A future in which knowledge replaces roles and in which organizations are grappling with the challenges outlined above will require different skills and leaders. The role of experts is to pass on their knowledge. It has to be self-sustaining. Customers don't want to have to go back for the same information again and again. They want to deal with experts. The pendulum has swung back in recent years, away from the notion of a professional manager almost exclusively focused on process, to someone who is an expert in a particular field. The challenge is finding people who are experts, but, who can also build relationships. Also, agile organizations need agile people who can go beyond their technical
December 2011
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COVER STORY
skills. The world of work is increasingly fluid, whether that's the economic climate or one's career, so people have to be comfortable with uncertainty and see it as an opportunity, not a threat. People will need a natural appetite to be teachable. Hence, looking at someone's path, not their position when they joined, but, their rate of progress since then is a much needed line of action. This is where mentoring could be one of the greatest source of developing talent. "Mentoring is no longer just a courtesy offered by nurturing executives to a few promising up-and-comers. It's a crucial strategy for transferring wisdom and growing talent in every department of the company and provides a solid foundation for advancing future business growth. Besides, mentoring is used as a developmental guiding relationship in many global companies; it is a process of building workplace relationshipsto develop personal and professional abilities, achieve performance goals at increasingly higher levels," says Dr. Shalini Sarin, the vice president - HR country partner of Schneider Electric. Further, she feels "Mentoring helps in sharing and retaining knowledge from the senior employees to the younger members; it also helps to create a continuity of culture and finally ensures adequate supply of leadership talent." Also, since mentoring allows older workers to share their knowledge with younger workers, this prevents loss of intellectual capital and enables continuous maintenance of legacy systems and tools. Even though, mentoring has redefined itself in terms of the way it's executed, its basic nature remains same - indirect learning. A mentor is never a mentor if he or she guides explicitly to the mentee. As a mentor's job is to present his/her viewpoint and the interpretation is totally left to the mentee, for example, Gandhiji and his three monkey's symbol. "While the basic nature still remains the same, there have been huge changes in the way mentoring relationships are seen in organizations today," says Nathaniel A Sasikar, vice president, human resources and office services for 3M's operations in India and Sri Lanka. He throws light on the factors that redefine mentoring. First, he says is, "Communication technologies like e-mentoring have redefined mentoring relationships. With its advent, the mentor-mentee relationship is no longer restricted by physical presence. Many mentormentee relationships have been sustained even after either individual in the relationship has moved on to other responsibilities in different parts of the world. With email and web conferencing facilities available, e-mentoring is common practice where companies are looking at building global mentoring programs to create globally integrated enterprises. At 3M our collaborative culture allows employees from emerging markets to be paired with senior employees from developed markets. Secondly,
DR SHALINI SARIN
Director - HR
Schneider Electric
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COVER STORY
even formal mentoring programs are on the rise as many organizations are formalizing mentoring. As organizations grow at a faster rate, there is a need for an institutionalized process that is goal oriented according to an individual's career growth needs. Many companies today, have formal mentoring programs and some of them are focused on women employees too." McDonald's, for example, has promoted the development of female managers in Asian countries. Even its leaders are committed to creating an environment that will leverage the talent of its female workforce in order to provide growth opportunities and become contributors to its success. In addition, women are at times sponsored. As Catalyst research 'Sponsoring women to success' reveals that sponsorship can serve as a highly effective intervention to accelerate women's career velocity. For example, Deutsche Bank's Accomplished Top Leaders Advancement Strategy (ATLAS) sponsorship program was launched in 2009 with the goal of improving the gender balance at senior levels and increasing the pool of women eligible for the most senior positions in the firm. ATLAS prepares high-performing women from all business units globally for executive leadership positions by pairing them with a member of Deutsche Bank's Group Executive Committee (GEC) from a different business line. Deutsche Bank's GEC members sponsor ATLAS women by championing them to lead the firm and advocating for them to fill senior most positions. Josef Ackermann, Deutsche Bank's CEO, is the ultimate sponsor of ATLAS. To initiate women into the program, he personally sends a letter inviting them to attend an opening event and dinner with himself and the GEC, which provides high visibility for the group. Participants for this year-long program are identified and selected via a rigorous nomination process. The nomination committee comprising senior-level women and men from across the firm reviews each nominee's career history and aspirations, leadership qualifications, and future career goals. ATLAS' structured nature and clear business goals ensure that the program is strategically aligned within the firm's 'social aspects' work and includes the following elements: In-depth
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COVER STORY
assessment: Throughout the course of the program, ATLAS women undergo various assessments to help them and their sponsors identify specific goals and areas on which the pair should focus. Examples include gaining broader industry exposure and raising visibility. A career consultant is also assigned to each participant to assist with the assessment process. Regular meetings: Several times over the course of the year, ATLAS women are brought together to meet as a group. In addition to a kick-off session, these meetings focus on a variety of strategic topics, including the difference between management and leadership and the board of directors' decision-making process. Group session: Once a year, the entire ATLAS cohort (all past and current participants) meets in a joint session to network with and learn from one another. For example, one group session focused on building strategic networks. To prepare, ATLAS women examined their own networks to determine how strategic they are-that is, to what extent the network helps achieve career goals and how effective it is at bringing other Deutsche Bank women up through the ranks. The sessions also encourage participants to challenge men and managers in lower positions to give more thought to women's career aspirations. To ensure that ATLAS women are giving back to the broader community of women at the firm, Deutsche Bank assigns ATLAS participants as informal mentors to new women managing directors (MDs). This strategic alignment between executive leadership sponsoring and informal mentoring at the management level underscores the firm's commitment to women's leadership and employee development. ATLAS has had a positive impact on participating women and their sponsors. The program provides high-potential women with heightened visibility and contact with influential Deutsche Bank leaders, which, in turn, increases the women's competency and confidence. Across the entire ATLAS cohort group, 45% of women participating are now in new or expanded roles. Also, Citi has implemented a formal program tied to organizational goals around talent. Its global initiative Women Leading Citi is a targeted effort to support high-performance women participants who possess the potential to move into senior leadership at Citi. This effort fosters sponsorship relationships between high-potential women, globally, and senior 'advocates', who can be women or men executives. The 18month program pilot was launched in November 2009. The program's goals were: exposing women participants to others in senior
NATHANIEL A SASIKAR Vice President - HR 3M's operations in India & Sri Lanka
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COVER STORY
BUSTING MYTHS OF MENTORING

There can be only one mentor In todays world its very uncommon that people only have one mentor. In fact, several people have quite a few mentors they turn to. The network of mentors can be large or small depending upon the mentee. Multiple mentors can be helpful in getting a variety of perspectives on an issue. Mentoring needs to formal & long-term Globalization and the fast paced working environments where people move from one organization to another makes this unrealistic. Also, mentoring can be a one-hour session and need not go on to six-months or one year or more. Presently, mentoring has become more like Twitter and less like having a psychotherapy session. Certainly, the advice and guidance may be richer and more relevant if it comes from someone who knows the mentee well and understands the mentees goals. However, building relationships with many others prove to be fruitful as when one needs advice the connections are in place. Also, there are times when we meet people we dont know well or at all, but, get mentored informally through them. Mentoring is for junior people Previously, people thought that mentors are for starters like fresh graduates or MBAs. However, today people at every stage benefit from this kind of assistance through reverse mentoring. The reality is there are times in a corporate career when one needs a mentor. Getting perspectives on while making a career change, taking on a new role, or contemplating leaving a job can be useful. Sometimes, a mentor is needed when the environment is altering quickly and the mentee didnt get the opportunity to keep up with the changes or even when one needs to navigate the complexities of the organization. Mentoring is done by experienced people Mentoring should be valuable to both mentor and mentee. Prior to looking for a mentor, the mentee needs to know what he/she can offer the mentor i.e. in terms of whether the mentee is able to give a unique perspective on the organization or mentors role; any valuable information from external sources that may aid the mentor to be better in his/her job; or may be an assurance of future help, if and when its needed, can be adequate to influence a mentor to put in his/her time and energy.
Source: HBR
management; broadening senior women's visibility; providing career development and enhanced leadership skills; and supporting firm-wide efforts around talent and mobility. Another change in mentoring that is seen is the boss or supervisor is no longer a mentor. In Accenture, almost every employee above a certain job grade has a mentor who is not their boss. Besides, Sasikar says, "Organizations realize the value of a mentoring relationship where a
senior, experienced employee is involved as he or she will have an unbiased interest for mentee's development. The mentor-mentee system provides an opportunity to the employee to establish a strong link with the organization in two ways - one through his or her supervisor and the other through an experienced person in the organization who very often lives the organizational culture. The employee feels better taken care of by the organization as this
demonstrates the organization's interest in developing him or her in the long term. The factor is the rapid growth in organizations resulting in inexperienced supervisors. As organizations grow rapidly, employees with less experience are rising to supervisory roles. In such scenarios, mentoring relationships play a huge role in helping younger employees imbibe company culture, providing different perspectives to their career growth and development needs and preparing
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December 2011
COVER STORY
MENTORING NECESSARY, BUT NOT ENOUGH FOR GROWTH
Men who had a mentor were 93% more likely to be placed at mid-manager level or above than men without a mentor. Women with a mentor increased their odds of being placed at mid-manager or above by 56% over women without a mentor. Women and men alike had current mentoring relationships, but men's mentors had more clout. Women and men were equally likely to have an active mentoring relationship. Over half of survey respondents reported having an active mentoring relationship (58% of women and 55% of men). More men than women never had a mentor (24% of men versus 17% of women). Women were more likely to have had a
mentoring relationship lapse (24% of women versus 20% of men). Women and men found their mentors in similar ways like 67% of both women and men found their most helpful mentor on their own. And 17% found their mentor through a formal mentoring program.
When left to their own devices, individuals choose to associate with others like themselves. Thus, men are more likely to affiliate with other men and women with other women. Highpotential men were more likely than women to choose male mentors (91% male mentors versus 9% female mentors); high-potential women were more likely than men to choose female mentors (65% male mentors versus 35% female mentors).
Source: A research study by Catalyst
them for bigger responsibilities in future. Also, the attrition rates are higher than ever before. Today, employees have multiple options and are often seen jumping jobs looking for better opportunities. Mentoring is now being looked as a great way to provide a strong anchor for the employee to cement his relationship with the company." In fact, mentoring has been found to be the number one way employees want to learn. And, millennia's love this form of learning. Thus, forward-thinking organizations are applying innovative mentoring methods to be able to scale in mass proportions to prepare for the future workplace.
New forms of mentoring

To meet the demands and challenges of the 2020 workplace organizations are preparing to develop their employees/ leaders to reach their potential by using new forms of mentoring that can aid in achieving all the above mentioned goals of talent management. One of the most in vogue is the formal mentoring programs.
It is found that around 71% of fortune 500 companies have a mentoring program ("Mentoring Programs Still Have a Place in the 21st Century," Lydell Bridgeford, Employee Benefit News, August 1, 2007). For example, MindTree practices learnercentric mentoring through its program called MentorMe. The MentorMe program aims on a two way learning approach and involves the mentor-mentee to walk together beyond their formal domains at times. It targets the holistic development of a mind at two levels: intellectual and emotional covering both the career and personal front. Also, Deutsche Bank has a formal mentoring system where each member of the bank's top management team is allocated a mentee from middle management. In this system the mentor is required to set aside a specific amount of time for the mentee. Capgemini, too, follows a formal mentoring program. Schneider Electric also has been using mentoring successfully as a developmental tool for its leadership team. Also, Hindustan Unilever having a 900strong middle-management pool, has a
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mentoring program called 'Alchemy' for all its high potential middle management employees wherein they are allocated a senior manager who directs and supports them through their leadership journey in the company. Even 3M India's key leadership team members are linked to international mentors from other 3M subsidiaries to help them deliver their current roles much better. Sasikar says, "The mentoring program also includes building the talent pool of internal mentors in the organization who can mentor high potential employees to scale up in their responsibilities. The HR department works closely with the businesses and identifies the training needs for the high potential employees. They are then assigned mentors after discussions with their supervisors." Furthermore, globally, 3M has a mentoring system that encourages mentoring partnerships and provides training, tools and networks to support mentoring across the company. In addition to assisted and self-directed mentoring programs, 3M also sponsors director and executive diversity mentoring programs designed to support and accelerate professional development of employees among 3M's diverse employee population who have demonstrated the potential to assume greater leadership roles. In addition, explains Sasikar, "The 3M Global Mentoring System clearly outlines the roles and responsibilities of a mentoring partnership. The detailed processes that outline meeting responsibilities, frequency of meetings, modes of communication, etc help instil the rigour in the partnership. In fact, each mentoring partnership meeting is recorded, goals are set at the start of the partnership and re-evaluated, tips are provided for mentoring, steps are provided for feedback, even the expected behaviours in the mentoring partnership are outlined, and guidelines to deal with challenges or issues that typically arise are also provided. The mentoring program also includes videos on how to mentor, and workshops on mentoring orientation. The tools help in laying down the process and the expected outcomes of the process. This helps in clarifying the boundaries of the relationship. This also standardizes the process across the organization. Electronic resources helps
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prepare the mentor for the development, joint process role and also supports them enhancement projects and in adding value to the other efforts that permit mentee. The mentor knows multigenerational employees The Each one teach one mentoring what kind of resources are to interrelate, communicate program at Satguru Partap Singh Apollo available and where. This and work together more Hospitals has had signficant results: helps connect the mentee to effectively. the right resource." In group mentoring people In comparison to 2010 the attrition In contrast, Capgemini's connect with different people CEO believes in doing amongst mentors has reduced by 50% including peers and seniors informal mentoring and and learn from them at the in 2011. therefore has opted out of same time. This can be built the formal system the on any number of electronic An increase in productivity is seen like company has created, and communications platforms the health care associated infections have informally mentors four or in person group sessions. reduced drastically in comparison to protgs. The CEO's mentees The anonymous/on-demand are continuously coming up mentoring relationship previous year like the ventilator associated with fresh ideas, new action involves higher level of pneumonia by 85.8%; central line blood plans, but are at times discloser and more candid stream infection by 68.8%; surgical site restrained by their own interaction as the anonymity inadequate experience. The frees up the mentor of being infection by 57.10%; catheter related CEO tries to help them view judged wherein he can freely urinary tract infection by 7.29%. Even the things from a larger share his experiences, cases of pressure ulcers have declined perspective. Even the country achievements and mistakes. head of HSBC follows an Also, here mentors have an by 32% in 2011 in comparison to informal system of agenda-free interest in the previous year. There is a decrease in mentoring. Sasikar, who is a protg's professional blood transfusion reactions from 0.13% strong supporter of formal development. However, the mentoring programs says, protg may become more in the period of January to May 2011 to "Formal mentoring programs open and start discussing 0.10% in the period of June to September help make mentoring a part problems and worries they 2011 as a result of trainings on blood of the organization culture. experience. The peer-toSharing stories of good peer mentoring is quite transfusion. mentoring partnerships popular amongst the There is a 30% reduction in patients where mentees talk about the millennia's. Here, the same benefits of having mentors age group people share fall. could inspire more their ideas and experiences Administration errors have reduced employees to seek mentoring with each other to learn opportunities as way to about different things. by more than 15%. enhance their people Nowadays companies have management skills." Also, in started to use shadowing as a developing country like means of mentoring. Here, ours, where there is a huge war for the mentee shadows the mentor creates powerful relationships talent and personal career ambition (leader/manager) everywhere at between younger and older is one of the factor which drives workplace to learn the intricacies of generations. Here the younger attrition. "The supervisor's role is that job, how it's executed and how employees mentor senior becoming complex and challenging it is connected with the organization. employees/leaders in things such as in emerging markets (high growth The end result is a much clearer how to use new technology, like expectation with limited resource in understanding of the business of the social media tools to connect with a constantly changing market). organization and builds personal customers and other new methods Developing and retaining talent ownership for creating successful of work. And since younger becomes critical for success. Thus, outcomes. Nokia in India uses generations like sharing their ideas existence of a formal mentoring shadowing in its induction process, and voicing their opinions, if they program will aid/supplement the where new joinees are mentored by are invited to give constructive efforts of the supervisors in top leaders for one week. The new feedback, seniors get a different developing and retaining talent," employee assists the leader as their perspective on their leadership style believes Sasikar. shadow - accompanying them on and try to unlearn and learn new Some other forms of mentoring all business meetings and other things. Forward thinking include reverse mentoring which work related activities which organizations give support for career
IMPACT OF MENTORING
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familiarizes the new Nokia employee with the business environment, work ethics/values of the company and helps in building his/her confidence and trust in the organization. Some people use career mentoring. An executive in Sweden whose own company was acquired wanted to pursue her childhood dream of doing medical research even though she did not possess an MD. One day she heard about Sweden's prestigious research hospital, the Karolinska Institute, merging with the university hospital in Huddinge and decided she had to explore the possibility of a medical PhD. So, she contacted multiple mentors (three) to get their perspectives on this potential career change. All three encouraged her and one of them helped her in getting connected to his research and medical network, and in particular to an entrepreneurial professor in medical management. Now, she is about to complete her PhD at the Karolinska Institute. Also, social media is playing a crucial role in mentoring. It has immense potential for one to connect to mentors not only from one's own organization, but also from outside. It augments connectedness and presents informal and personal learning environments leading to achieve tangible results for business. Organizations planning to use social media for mentoring can divide their employees into various learning communities depending on their learning needs and the kind of learning needed. Then, accounts can be created for every group and made accessible, plus, these groups can connect to other groups in case of cross-functional learning needs, too. Mentors can make their expertise available by giving solutions for diverse situations. This enables people to link with many experts in their field instead of depending only on one mentor and adds to their learning opportunities. Here the mentees with a particular learning can pose a question and draw out responses from several people and if the answers vary they can discuss their views with constant interactions. Also, from web-based conferencing tools, comprising of audio and video, employees can get mentored effectively. Companies also use 'buddyship' as part of mentoring which is primarily used at the time of onboarding and integrating new employees. "It helps Schneider Electric integrate the new employees to our culture, brings them up to speed on the unwritten codes of conduct within the organization. It also goes a long way in developing a sense of belonging, comfort and trust within the work environment. The process has had a considerable impact which has been experienced at various levels. It has helped us send a message to the organization that our focus is not just 'here and now', we believe in long term objectives and value our people to
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take us there. It has provided a platform for people to introspect and reflect, not only on their capabilities, but, also on the 'world of work' they have thrived in so far. Mentors have grown as better leaders, though, the process and rejoice in the successes of their protgs who gain from earning trust and finding security through support systems within the organizational maze is amazing," says Sarin. Lastly, one-on-one mentoring is still a powerful way to develop employees especially millennia's as they like structure and stability. Here, mentors must lead by example, invite protgs to shadow them, have protgs observe them conduct a meeting or presentation, provide protgs suggestions of ebooks to read, and periodically check how protgs are performing. One-on-one mentoring can use new technologies like mentors can conduct meetings via Skype, introduce protg to others via Twitter or Facebook, when imparting webinars invite the protg to participate in it, or writing/blogging a piece about the protg. significant." Also, 3M faces the challenge to establish a good rhythm to get these relationships going. "Mentors/mentees often find it difficult to find time to devote to their mentoring relationship while handling their existing responsibilities," assents Sasikar. The other challenge, he says, "Is the issue of mentees seeing a value in the relationship with the mentor and being committed to the process." However, to overcome the challenges Sasikar recommends, "Often the onus for the success of the relationship is on the mentor and mentee. A good goal setting and monitoring system can help provide the necessary support to the individuals to sustain their relationship. Since everyone doesn't necessarily have a flair for mentoring, training mentors can help them differentiate their roles of being a mentor vs. a supervisor. And, as organizations take on the path of formalizing mentoring, mentoring needs to be set as a role expectation, included in the individual's goal setting process." "The mentee's conviction in the process is another key factor to make this partnership successful. At 3M the mentoring program is "menteedriven," which means the mentee is responsible for determining the direction and focus of the mentoring partnership. An employee interested in furthering his career would certainly be expected to take the initiative in seeking a mentor and an organization's formal mentoring program provides the right channel to do that," says Sasikar. Other key issues in mentoring relationships could be, "Mentoring may not work in companies that are too hierarchical in nature as they would see the dual relationship as a conflict of interest for the younger employee. The question still remains as to how open Indian managers are to their reports having a dual relationship. Also, in organizations where a strong culture of collaboration exists, there is always the fear that the mentee might take advantage of his or her relationship with the mentor. In fact, Indian companies are typically dependent on individuals and not on systems and processes, which is the way of the future. This could prove to be a deterrent in organizations that are looking to setting up a mentoring program," highlights Sasikar. Nevertheless, the Indian industry is gearing up to the idea of institutionalized mentoring programs. Sarin feels, "Mentoring will be a key to India sustaining its advantage as the global business leader in segments of industry like information technology, pharma research, BPO, manufacturing, automobiles, petroleum industry, telecommunications, etc. It will also have a critical impact on raising the bar for Indian businesses to become globally competitive. Also, the system as a whole will benefit in providing a broad-based foundation for an excellent business workforce for the future, instead of a few highpotential individuals, who are not sufficient to deliver the magnitude of talent that corporate India will require from its future workforce. Indian companies seem to have relegated the mentoring function to a lower priority. While this is understandable given the high business pressures on HR emerging from recruitment/ retention/ compensation issues, a company will be unable to build long-term talent competencies for supporting business growth without the mentoring function. Similarly, despite talent management issues being a top challenge today for most Indian CEOs, there are only a few CEOs who give high priority to the delivery of mentoring from their HR directors. So, commitment of top management is the key. They act as guides and provide support and security. However, in practice, budget crunches and execution focus takes precedence while the people focus gets lost in the midst of numbers and margins." Nevertheless, one of the key success factors for mentoring would be the organization's acceptance of it as an important process for business success and the commitment of HC leaders to the process.
Future challenges
There are various challenges that are encountered in mentoring like the CEO of Capgemini feels that formal mentoring programs are too much of a scheduled thing as they require a fixed number of mentormentee meetings and many times people find that difficult especially if one is constantly travelling. The core of the mentor-mentee relationship is one of friendship, but in the formal mentoring programs the HR department plays the role of a matchmaker. Even the matchmaking seems to be a challenge, says Sarin, "Matching is a key challenge where determining the fit between the protg and the mentor in terms of personality, availability of time, and mode of communication can be a daunting task. Additionally, the time involved in formulating the learning plan, learning deliverables and steps for facilitating learning is quite
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ssessments of candidates have been going on for decades and the primary route that was adopted was many rounds of interviews in order to know about an applicant's aptitude and acumen. For example, an organization was looking for a candidate with a specific software skill. Out of four shortlisted candidates one was put through four rounds of interviews. The entire procedure took 20 days and even after that the candidate was informed that she will be on one month trial period. The candidate did not entertain this and said that if the organization after four rounds of interviews cannot make up its mind, it is not worth joining. The organization kept looking for an apt fit and may have by now lost the project too. To avoid this kind of subjective judgments or
group discussions, which measure dimensions like leadership, planning, sensitivity, problem solving, decisionmaking, creativity, sociability, and so on. Or nowadays companies have their own competency framework on which assessment centres, internal or outsourced, map different competencies for companies. For instance, "Virtusa has developed an integrated approach 'Work-HomeUniversity' to assess competencies such as technical/skill proficiency, domain expertise, behavioural/ leadership competencies and core values called PIRL (pursuit of excellence, integrity, respect and leadership through empowerment)," informs Ramesh Kannan, director HR of Virtusa. Further, he says, "Virtusa uses varied exercises like 360 degrees feedback, role based certifications, expert interviewing, simulation exercises, whitepaper
best suit the expectations of our Gen-Y workforce. We are leveraging on "personal excellence" to achieve organizational excellence. In the process, we provide clear expectations framework that is specific and unambiguous to the Gen-Y workforce, who loves candid expectation management and assessment coupled with constructive feedback." The assessment centre concept is effectively used in Europe and Asia to select interns, too. However, this is a challenge for HR execs as it is one of the most difficult of selections owing to the interns or fresh graduates lack of prior appropriate work experience. In situations like hiring laterals or senior/leadership positions the approach is supportive in recognizing which persons may make it to leadership-type roles while supporting others to continue on the
mapping competencies
with assessment centres
indecisiveness to prevail and without losing time get the right candidate organizations opt for assessment centres which provides their HR execs and line managers to make error-free judgements while identifying people for different positions based on data and facts. Also, assessment centres not only makes evaluations about skills, but, behaviours too. In comparison to normal interviews, assessment centres judgements about behaviours are made by several trained assessors utilizing exclusively developed simulations like role-play, in-basket, fact-finding, different types of psychological tests, management games, oral presentations on different topics, report writing, and
BY ARVA SHIKARI
presentation, case studies and assessment tests to measure individual competencies that is determined as important which are a mix of task specific competencies (how they do the job), and context specific competencies (how they would fit with what is wanted in the wider organization)." Also, Virtusa to spot talent has initiatives such as MASHUP contest and TechFest that are very popular and welcomed by its Gen-Y employees. Commenting on managing aspirations for Gen-Y workforce, Kannan says, "We have created our assessment processes to
functional career path. Like, "For leadership roles at Virtusa, we follow 360 degrees feedback process to identify leadership skills which encompass six leadership traits (entrepreneurship, clarity of thought, client centricity, self awareness, communication, building high performance teams) and on the values of PIRL." ACs provides a window to cross-check or test the data acquired through self reports like interviews. For instance, a candidate might have shown experience of leadership in a behavioural interview, but, when placed in a team exercise he/she may be observed to control, not take note of what others have to say and disregard the non participative team
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members. "It is very important to link internally developed competencies to ACs to ensure continuity and buy in from employees," infers Rajendra Ghag, executive vice president, HR at HDFC Life. Even "Employees/ candidates also believe the system to be neutral and generally are less aggrieved by results of such ACs," notes Ghag. Additionally, ACs is also used to select people for cross-functional moves and re-skilling. Modern managers and HR executives realize the importance of objective HR assessment and establishing the ROI on their human resources. The information collected, compiled, consumed, and applied from assessment practices can have a tremendous impact on organizational success. Through Development Dimensions International's (DDI) extensive research it is derived that competency based assessment is likely to be more effective and deliver a good return on investments and is
Assessment centres have become a pertinent tool for organizations to make better decisions about hiring and developing people at various levels of their work life through methods that align well with the role and business objectives!
by far the most effective in terms of their measurement of the factors that predict success. In fact, assessment centres have become an integral part of HR process at organizations like Godrej and Boyce, Mahindra and Mahindra, JK, Bharti Airtel, JCB, HPCL, Coca Cola, Jindal Steel, ISGEC, Maruti, IBM, Marico, ITC and many more. Yogesh Misra, head of Thomas Assessments quotes a recent survey by People Metrics that showed out of 1038 companies surveyed, 497 were actively using assessment development centres and 90% of the remaining companies had plans of using it in future. Assessment centres have become a vital tool for organizations in their hunt for talent and chiefly for those that want to create a pool of talent that they expect will not only perform well today, but, adjust and mature as industry demands keep altering. In fact, on the strategic importance scale, Hay Group
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research shows that executives consistently rank the employee performance ahead of productivity and technology. Yet, very few feel they have enough talented managers to fully pursue their most pressing market opportunities and business priorities. To overcome that hurdle, forward-looking organizations seek to increase 'bench strength', and create high-performance work cultures by evaluating management and/or leadership talent. According to Hay Group such organizational talent reviews frequently provide leverage in helping achieve large-scale shifts in organizational focus brought on by events such as an IPO, merger, or a significant change in strategy. perform 'on the ground'. A welldesigned assessment centre is the most effective tool available for assessing individuals in both individual and group-based environments, for both selection and development. Assessment centres are one of the most robust and effective ways to determine if a candidate is a good fit for a role. They also offer the candidate an opportunity to get a better sense of spread over three days. The first day is spent on various exercises, role play, case studies, presentations, some psychometric tests, and BEI. The second day goes in analysis, summarization and feedback. Finally, a joint development plan for the individual in form of an IDP is chalked out on the third day. The methods adopted are well researched and are extremely successful. Further, our assessment centre results are measured in terms of different potential categories - A, B, C1 and C2, of which A is the best rating. Similarly, our performance measures are summarized into score ranges of 0 to 5, 5 to 7.5 and 7.5 to 10. A correlation is established between these two considering all cases over a four-year period, which gave rise to a high correlation coefficient. Also, we monitor on-job performance of individuals' vis--vis their competency scores. We have found a very high coefficient of correlation between the two." HDFC Life out of its total 10 competencies (called Mantra 10) assesses specific levels of candidate/role. "We use 4-5 competencies in each of the exercises. In all four to five exercises that are used in one AC gets sufficient evidence of the competencies that we look for to prove the potential of candidates to take up higher roles being assessed for. Trained assessors (equal numbers of external and internal assessors) then observe the candidates through each of the exercises and record their findings. At the end of each exercise the assessors observing candidates moderate their records and assign point scores to each of the candidates. Generally, 2.5 to 3.0 on a five point scale are considered to be the benchmark score to declare any candidate to be successful in AC. In HDFC Life, we have been using ACs to decide elevations for last more than two years. We fill more than 40% vacancies from within and use ACs as one of the important tools," reveals Ghag. Director-human
Mapping competencies
Assessment centre is one of the most scientific and accurate methods of mapping competencies as it uses a series of multiple tests for assessing a single competency. The use of multiple tools to assess competencies increases the accuracy of measurement. Typically, in an assessment centre, as Mishra explains, "The participants are evaluated against a competency model on a behaviourally anchored Rating Scale (BARS). Multiplicity of assessors and exercises ensures high degree of reliability and assessment against competency model by trained observers ensures validity of the data." For example, the competency 'communication' can be measured in a behavioural event interview (BEI), group discussion and case presentation. "A person who does not speak in a large group may still communicate in a BEI or small group. The inference here is that the person lacks the confidence to communicate in a large group and that becomes the training need under the communication competency," says Misra. Also, "Research indicates there is no substitute for objectively observing and systematically measuring how potential employees will actually
ASHISH SRIVASTAVA Director-HR Canara HSBC Oriental Bank of Commerce Life Insurance Company Ltd.
what is involved in the role they applied for," adds Saurabh Singh, head - talent assessment of Pearson Talent Assessment (PTA). Competency mapping is implemented through multiple stages. Explaining the various stages of assessments at JK Paper Limited is the company's vice president (HR), Dr. T.K. Mandal "It is extremely important to work out the reference set of competencies. We have sets of 12 competencies (behavioural/ generic) across three levels frontline, mid level and leadership level. Our assessments are handled by external assessors to avoid any internal influence and are typically
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resources of Canara HSBC Oriental Bank of Commerce Life Insurance Company Limited, Ashish Kumar Srivastava feels, "Assessment scores need to go one step further, i.e. instead of just communicating the score, it is vital to enable the person to understand it's meaning and relevance to his immediate present, and how he/she can change this, should it be desirable!" Also, says Misra, "If follow-up actions are not taken then not only will the money spent on assessment centres go waste, but it can also make majority of the competencies. HSBC employs assessment centres to recruit on campus too. Also, corelation studies are conducted to match performance at an assessment centre with consequent performance on the job. Then the assessment centres goes on to include employee development. Thereafter, a follow up is done by high potential managers with a focus on career development. HSBC attempts to include it with leadership, company goals and its business strategy. Competencies are mapped on the basis of business core technology and practice teams. At Virtusa, we assess each candidate against the competencies and their fit to our corporate values and culture. This ensures that our competency management has a 360 degrees perspective of the candidate's abilities and helps in channelizing the employee's abilities in an effective and efficient way. This approach supports the career progression for our employees and also contributes to the organizational goal of developing leaders from within. About 70% of the leadership roles are fulfilled internally. Also, the Work-Home-University approach has helped our employees in meeting their career aspirations," explains Kannan. In external assessment centres competencies are mapped by doing a detailed study of the organization and the context helps ascertain and clearly define the objective for undertaking an assessment centre activity. "This stage also provides an in-depth understanding of the competency framework, KRA's and factors related to job performance. This preliminary information is then used to create a behavioural framework wherein the technical details of the role are separated out and the competencies are broken down into observable behaviours. Here, it is critical to define the success parameters after these parameters are whetted and approved by the organization's stakeholders. It is against these parameters that a candidate's potential is assessed," elucidates Singh. In a case that PTA handled, it had to design an assessment centre for an UK-based IT-KPO firm for its internal job postings at a managerial level. Besides, developing customized assessment tools, PTA offered tools to assess critical thinking and decision making skills and personality test to assess workplace personality characteristics combined with personal and interpersonal values that drive a person's workplace motivations. This information was then used to create an engagement framework for employees that will
Why an assessment centre works?

High predictor of job performance
Highly relevant, observable and comprehensive details about a candidate's current and future potential Transparent and comprehensive information from multiple judgements
High value engagement and internal branding exercise for the organization to convey employees are being taken seriously and treated fairly
Effective preview of the role or job level
Developmental payoffs to candidates arising out of a self-evaluation and self-insight model
Completely audited and legally defensible framework

(Source: PTA)
employees cynical towards any future interventions." HSBC utlizes assessment centres for hiring by an open and transparent system of competence assessment with career development through training. It has clearly defined 13 competencies that the bank expects to have in its managers. To evaluate these competencies it applies a series of aptitude tests, psychometric tests, group exercises and every test may assess more than one competency and every competency is measured more than once during the procedure. The assessments are conducted by senior line managers and a candidate is offered a job only if the candidate meets the minimum standard on a
requirements and company goals after extensive discussions with line managers and high potential managers. The bank's line managers are prepared to sharpen their assessed skills and thus, they are made completely dedicated to the procedure. At Virtusa, Talent Assessment and Appreciation is facilitated by an integrated approach built on "WorkHome-University" model. "WorkAssessment of deliverables/ outcomes happens in a project/ account, home-assessment of behavioral and leadership competencies happen at each of our location and University-Assessment of technical/skill/domain competencies are supported by our
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motivate them as per their viz. interpersonal influencing, personal motivations, with the team management skills, long term results manifesting in analytical thinking, problem high productivity and low solving, commercial acumen, turnovers. Based upon the relationship building, and findings of assessors, this firm customer centricity. Thomas realized the relevance of the Assessments used individual case assessment centre was not study, role play, BEI, group limited to the current job simulation including team game postings. It decided to expand and group case study, the application of the psychometric assessments, assessment centre findings to behavioural profiling, and create a development model trainability assessment to assess where all high potential all the competencies. The employees were assessed on the assessments were done in one customized tools as well as the day. Based on the results of critical thinking and personality assessments, a merit list was tests for the purpose of created and promotions were succession planning and to carried out. Subsequently, one to create better engaged one feedback was given and employees, respectively. individual development plans In another case one of the were created for all the TK MANDAL leading FMCG companies in employees. snacks segment wanted to Vice President-HR JK Paper Limited identify the most competent Room for enhancement territory sales in-charge (TSI) with development plan for the remaining AC is time consuming and resource capability and competencies to take TSIs so that they could be trained. intensive and this could be a huge up the responsibility of a sales officer. There were six competencies on challenge for any company that It also wanted to create a which the TSI were to be assessed wants to put into practice the
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assessment centre system for resourcing purposes. In addition, Mandal says, "Any process involving human beings is prone to judgmental errors. Since assessment centres are largely centered on assessors, elimination of all kinds of bias is extremely important, although this is minimized to a large extent with the involvement of more than one assessor per assessee and use of multiple tools to measure each competency. Extensive education on the competency framework, definition, processes, purpose, etc. across organization is another important step needing priority. Also, lack of transparency invariably leads to avoidable cynicism and loss of trust." Suman Rudra, the India HR Leader of NCR India feels, "The challenges are in establishing the linkages between the tools and organizational competency framework. It also lies in creating real business issues and leadership specific challenges to NCR that incumbents shall encounter in their experiment with sum or parts of it, the results are different in quality. The primary challenge remains with the final experience at an individual, team and at an organizational level. The individuals with prior experience of AC, if negative or positive, hugely impact the implicit and explicit 'perceived value' and 'fairness' of an AC. It's imperative on all counts to ensure absolute transparency. And we can only achieve that by simplification and eschewing jargons. Also, the organization has a huge responsibility to ensure appropriateness. It's a must to sensitize, make the assessors and the participants aware of its finer nuances that can make or break its RAJENDRA GHAG effectiveness. At the end, the Executive Vice President-HR only measure is benefits HDFC Standard Life Insurance perceived by the person." The question: how long roles and how they are able to should the outcome of an AC is navigate them." considered as valid is another However, Srivastava says, "As you challenge. Kannan suggests that,
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"Duration can be about 12 months and then we can look at a revalidation exercise after it. To truly maximize the value of assessment for business purposes, there are several significant considerations that must be taken into account. Smita Affinwalla, the head of consulting at DDI India gives a few facets. Assessments must be aligned with business purpose: For instance, tests are cost-effective when their purpose is to screen out the unqualified, or to identify those who are likely to do well in later evaluations. Alternatively, assessments used for professional development tend to be more in-depth than those used for selection. In developmental assessments, candidates receive detailed insights into their performance across a broad range of competencies. In times of substantial organizational and job change, to assure accuracy and fairness, assessment results are often blended with information about
current performance as the criteria for placement and downsizing decisions. Multiple assessment methods create better prediction and development insights. The skills required for a role or a job is broader than what can be measured by any one technique. All facets of successcompetencies, experience, knowledge, and other personal attributes-should be systematically evaluated to make reliable hiring, promotion, and succession management decisions, and to provide sound developmental insights. Selection has a greater impact than development. Though assessment tools are effective when used for both selection and development, greater value is realized from applying assessment techniques to selection because of the impact good selection decisions have on an organization's success. Validity and utility of assessments must be demonstrated. For
simulations and interviews, a jobanalysis process should link job activities to assessment tools and targets. For tests and inventories, links should be established to the job performance. When it comes to choosing assessments to maximize performance outcomes, the accuracy of the process and the decision rules that are used to determine pass and fail points, are as important as the legal considerations surrounding assessments. Also, a means of demonstrating return. Technology enhances the assessment process. Technology continues to advance our ability to collect and track information about people, presenting vast benefits. An integrated set of automated tools that helps administer recruiting, hiring, on-boarding, performance management, and talent development can create abundant efficiencies and new opportunities to use assessment information to guide an organization's human capital HC processes.
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HR PRACTICE
NOKIA
shadowing at
BY ARVA SHIKARI
ANU PIRES HR Head Nokia India

60
n late 2010 Nokia in India started inducting its employees through its Shadow program. As part of the program, every new employee is assigned to a person from the top/senior leadership team of Nokia as a mentor for a week. The employee assists the leader as their shadow - accompanying them on all business meetings and other work related activities. This familiarizes the new Nokia employee with the business environment, work ethics/ values of the company and helps in building his/her confidence and trust in the organization. Most often, the shadow and the leader are picked from different functional areas as this helps the new joinees in understanding cross-functional dependencies that exist and are critical to meeting business objectives. At a personal level, this initiative, allows the shadow to build a rapport with the senior management as they act as a mentor to them for the particular week. "Our observation is that both shadow and host continue their engagement even after the program gets over," says Anu Pires, head-HR of Nokia India. Since Nokia feels that its people are amongst the biggest assets it
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HR PRACTICE
invests heavily in engaging with them at various levels. And one of the ways is to engage right at the beginning of a person's journey at Nokia as "Within the larger mandate of employee engagement, inter-team interaction and training and development are key focus areas for us," says Pires. And the Shadow program provides an opportunity for new joinees to create a connect with Nokia leaders and network; assists in their assimilation and learning process by helping them understand the leader's the Shadow program varies on the number of new joinees and the availability of the leaders. The HR team at Nokia works out all the details of the program like identifying the attendees for the Shadow Program, reaching out to the hosts and request them to block time on their calendars for the identified week. After receiving the confirmation from the leaders, the schedule and program details are communicated to the joinees. In addition, the HR team also briefs for the leaders to self-reflect and analyze his or her management style, connect and engage with employees from cross functional teams and get a fresh perspective/feedback on existing practices. "The program is tremendously successful within Nokia India. Employees eagerly look forward to being a part of this program. There has been a lot of positive buzz around the program, which is due to its concept of greater learning and the opportunity to engage with the top/senior management," informs Pires. In fact, she adds, "All new joinees look forward to being a part of the program as everyone wants a peek into the day-to-day professional life of a leader. As it is an opportunity to see and learn about how they conduct their daily business, resolve issues, manage conflicts and collaborate with other functions to achieve business objectives." The popularity of the Shadow program has increased so much that even the older employees within the organization want to be part of the program. Additionally, Nokia's HR team provides a peek into the feedback from the participants. Jithender
Nokia India promotes a one week window into the world of Nokia top leaders for new joinees!
functional area and how it interlinks with other functions and Nokia's overall strategic focus in the country; understand the ways of working at Nokia and its culture; and build comfort and a sense of connect with the organization. "The Shadow Program may be short-term, but, it is high on engagement that allows the employees to benefit from it in different aspects," feels Pires. Further, the idea of the Shadow program is that the new joinees will be a part of the daily work-life of the leaders; therefore, leaders are encouraged to continue with their work the way they usually go about it and not tailor their work plans while they are with a shadow. As, "We want the new joinees to get a complete view into the lives of the assigned leader," reasons Pires. Also, the Nokia management team has been very accommodating and enthusiastic about the initiative, right from the start. And the HR team never had to convince the leaders to participate in the Shadow program. This positive attitude helps the Nokia HR team to build a connected organization. The program is extended across all divisions and positions in Nokia. And, it goes on a continuous basis. The number of people undergoing
and debriefs the participants on the program. The nature of the program is to not over burden the leaders every week with the initiative; therefore, a rotational process is adopted of giving them a shadow. However, the HR team ensures that every leader has at least one shadow a month, if not more. To break away from the traditionally followed induction programs and undertake an initiative that has a more practical application to it gave Capture the usual work habits of the birth to the Shadow program which would help in the host in a shadowing record effective induction of an See for the associations in all facets employee into Nokia India. The program goes beyond just of work talking about an organization's Observe the core capabilities of the work culture, direction and lineage in a closed room. This host in action gives new joinees a first-hand Watch the informal and formal experience of the organization interactions from the best view possible right from the top, allowing the Take note of the situations that new joinees to experience the surprise or challenge your thinking company from a higher level. It not only adds to the learning Record events without inferences or process of an individual, but, judgements introduces new joinees to the Nokia culture and in turn, helps Write down questions you want to them connect with the ask later company. In addition, the program also is an opportunity
Tips for shadows
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HR PRACTICE
Singh, an area sales manager who shadowed Rex Fryhover, the director, logistics was impressed by Rex's talent and experience (14 years with Nokia) in his domain. Rex was helpful in sharing his thoughts and patient in answering all of Jitendra's doubts. Rex's punctuality, energy and approach of leading by example floored Jitendra. In fact, Jitendra never felt like a new comer with him and felt more like a logistics team member. He got to attend business meetings, conferences and travel with him. This helped in instilling the right values of the company in Jitendra and ensured that the values percolated correctly. At a personal level, this initiative, also allowed Jitendra to build a rapport with senior management. Another shadow, Pankaj Kothiyal, an area sales manager shadowed Kaustuv Chatterjee, a program managertheme head, MFN. Kaustav ensured that Pankaj was a part of all the discussions he was a part of. Apart from that it had been a continuous effort on Kaustav's part to provide Pankaj with the background details of what all was happening around. Kaustav was extremely encouraging in terms of ensuring that Pankaj's participation was to the fullest and all his suggestions were directed to the right people. "The feedback of shadows on the program speaks for the program's
Benefits of work-shadowing

Experiencing how other teams and departments work Learning from experienced colleagues Getting aware of other roles and how they fit within the organization

Understanding their needs and priorities Getting more aware of the importance of own role and its needs and priorities Understanding why things work the way they do Viewing procedures/methods in actual situations, and how these are relevant to one's own role Can aid in focusing on learning the finest ways to do and get things done Sharing experiences with colleagues from different work areas Enhancing value of collaborative initiatives
(Source: University for the Creative Arts)
Tips for hosts

Doing regular work without getting disturbed by the presence of the shadow Maintain shadowing and socialising separately Keep explanations and discussions for appropriate occasion(s) Give suggestions/recommendations for fur ther learning in areas raised in the discussion
success; however, some of the observables on the bottom line that are noticed" says Pires "have been around the enhanced levels of engagement among the employees." Additionally, she says, "As the engagement levels have enhanced in the organization, they are cascading down to the field and are helping build a stronger connect between the frontline/regions and the head office employees. Also, we have seen a greater level of connect with the organization among the employees who have undergone the program. Thus, it has helped in building a more connected organization with greater communication even within cross functional teams. In addition, shadows often think of the leaders as their mentor/guide and engage with them on regular basis." Even though, the Shadow program has a
simple approach and format the results have been extraordinary. From the leader's perspective, the only challenges in this program are that of the time commitment because of their day-to-day work pressures which make it difficult for them to allocate time to the program. Despite of these constraints Nokia's HR team has always managed to continue with the program. In fact, "This program brings in far greater mileage to the organization," believes Pires. Although, the Shadow program is a relatively new initiative at Nokia India and it still has a lot of ground to cover, the company plans to soon roll this out for the older, existing employees as well, since, the HR team has seen a great keenness from them as well to be a part of this HC program.
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CEO SPEAK
breathing
innovation
Shouvick Mukherjee, VP & CEO of Yahoo! India R&D believes in breathing innovation in the organization rather than just breeding it. He talks about how Yahoo! India R&D goes about transforming itself from an execution center into a marketcentric innovation hub with the help of its employees!
BY SHOUVICK MUKHERJEE
he conversation on how a company can succeed through innovation can unfold in different directions. It can take a detour through technology or strategy, business model or process - because there is no single blueprint for success. The only common denominator through the change you embark on - which has the power to make or break - is your people. Innovation is the lifeblood of an organization like ours - the Yahoo center in Bangalore is our second-largest R&D hub in the world. This story began a few years ago, when Yahoo in India was at a transition point. While we were executing well, it required a leap up the value chain to reinvent the center as a marketcentric innovation hub. A base from which we could make a significant impact to Yahoo globally, tightly aligning to what we were trying to achieve as a company. For this to happen, we needed an internal innovation ecosystem that was self-sustaining, weaving across and encompassing every level, every team, and every employee.
How much freedom is too much or (worse) too little?
SHOUVICK MUKHERJEE Vice President & CEO-Yahoo

52
India RD
The combination of being innovative, open and fun for young techs Yahoo (as we're called) is most conducive to new thinking. Innovation has always been in our DNA, with employees having the
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CEO SPEAK
freedom to choose the direction they want to innovate in. However, taking innovation to the next level meant going back to the drawing board, to rethink how we could really make it count. While accomplishing this, I strongly believed we had to balance the aspirations of our employees, with our purpose and goals as an organization. Innovation programs can derail, or lose credibility, if the "freedom balance" goes askew. It's considered cool to give employees the free time to think out of their immediate box, innovate, and see where it leads. Nevertheless, without alignment to what the company is trying to achieve, it leads to a lot of noise without the results to show. Companies struggle to find a fit for these ideas and make them stick. A little down the road, when employees don't see a correlation between their efforts and the outcome, boredom sets in, followed by plummeting motivation levels. For a company that evolves through innovation, the alternative is not an option. A topdown approach, dictating 'what and when' to employees, can effectively kill creativity. Interestingly, our people pointed us to the solution. During my informal interactions with employees on one of our monthly birthday gatherings our discussions turned to innovation. The one question that employees always asked me was, "How can my innovation reach the market?" One employee candidly told me, "It's not just about having a great idea. My idea should matter. If I win a contest, I don't just want an appreciation certificate or a gift voucher. I want to know that my innovation is going to make it to the product roadmap." This could only happen if the team was collectively focused on the same goal. Finding the sweet spot between creating and achieving meant channelizing innovation. Thus, in conversations with employees, I reiterated alignment to our product goals and within that, ideas that solve "real life" problems. Another prerequisite was accelerating cycle time - critical for successful innovation. It's easy to lose steam with hierarchy and bureaucratic tangles. We addressed this by enabling and empowering employees with a framework that offered direction, but, did not stifle or slow them down. Before freezing our action plan to grow innovation at the center, we brainstormed with employees on removing obstacles and making the program more inclusive. One observation that came up was around transparency and communication. An employee pointed out, "I can only think about innovating laterally if I know what other product groups are working on." To connect and get the conversation going between teams, we began organizing informal sessions over chai, where employees could meet business owners, talk about ideas they have for that particular product and find out what's on the roadmap. This is turn has facilitated cross-pollination of ideas. them. Thus, when we pressed the pedal on our innovation program, we were already working with an advantage the world-class talent at our center. However, was it possible to embed innovation even more deeply into the culture and rewire the organization for creativity? Well, I believe that no culture change initiative alone can do the trick, unless it is backed by results. What we chose was "result-driven" culture change. When employees saw team mates innovating with results to show, we banked on it having a ripple effect, sparking the passion and hunger to succeed. Results have reinforced the organization's vision like no amount of talk can. In the last four years, the Bangalore center has yielded a 50% average y-o-y increase in idea submissions for patent consideration.
Help to run the last mile

To facilitate the change needed, we are enabling our employees to enhance their existing capabilities and gain domain expertise. As a leader, I see a dual responsibility. It doesn't stop at giving your people opportunities. You have to then equip them to successfully "convert" these opportunities into the desired results. An employee told me, "I have an idea, but will I get the support and help to take it forward?" Part of
Breathing, not just breeding innovation

If you ask me, what's the single biggest lever to build credibility and gain the trust of your employees, I'd say, "results." In my experience, if you show your employees results for their efforts, you've delivered to
Yahoo! employees at Internal Hack Day

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CEO SPEAK
competitions have structured mentoring for participants. Once they sign up with their ideas, the YEN team connects participants to mentors who could help refine their innovation. On another track, ideas submitted for patents are carefully evaluated and funneled right from submission to acceptance. The shift has been visible. We recently held Internal Hack Day, a 24-hour innovation competition, where employees take a break from their day job to build a working prototype (what we call a hack) in one day and night, with a movie and some pizza thrown in. It's a hugely popular competition that encourages No idea can shine on its own collaboration - without hammering home the idea - and is a surefire Ideas at a nascent stage need way to surface innovation. This year handholding and mentoring. A focus for the first time, we had a set of area has been to connect our 'challenges' for participants that "ideators" with thought leaders in the were mapped to our strategy to win organization who can refine ideas in India. In the spirit of Hack Day, and help the 'ideator' run the last which embodies freedom and mile. In-house innovation innovation, we also had an open category. There was no weightage in the judging round for hacks built against one of the challenges. So no pressure was there for employees, Line up drivers for alignment: Educate no stifling of creativity. your employees on direction and interest However, here's what areas through sessions. (Informal ones happened. Over 60% of the hacks submitted were work well!) Have themes or challenges against one of the that folks can work towards. This challenges set. Before the improves alignment of ideas. contest ended - and this Get was again a first - six hacks everybody involved: Make had been adopted by our innovation more social, with peer reviews product groups. and ratings. Incidentally, the winners of this contest have Connect frequently: Mapping the right ploughed their prize ideas with the right products can money into the next accelerate adoption. innovation they're working on. And this is where the Bring in decision makers early in the tech community is idea development cycle: Helps you different. One of biggest move quickly to refine and mould ideas. drivers at Yahoo! - where It is great for agility. we reach around 700 million unique visitors Supporting employees needs and worldwide - is the "high" when they need it: Extend the right of your innovation suppor t and mentor your ideators reaching millions of users. Peer recognition also throughout the idea development cycle. matters big time. (How an empowering your people is to create a support system for them. To foster this, we have a team dedicated to facilitating innovation and its adoption - the single point from which any idea can begin its journey at our center. They go by the name Yahoo Entrepreneur Network (YEN) and for the past year, have worn multiple hats to spot innovation, nurture, track it, aide collaboration and break down silos within the organization. Center-wide, we have ensured that channels of communication remain open across levels, while opening up new channels. idea is rated by fellow employees is almost as important as its ranking in a competition.)
Is everybody in? Creating real engagement

For our people to be equal owners in our innovation program, we needed to broaden the base, getting the maximum number of employees to pitch in with relevant ideas. Programs had to be inclusive - so innovation could flow in from anywhere in the organization. And, they had to facilitate collaboration, so different competencies and skill sets could combine to create. Earlier in the year, we experimented with a program called ID8, a mini business case contest, which addressed all these challenges. The competition was wide open from the word go. Participants did not have to "code" their ideas, so everyone could participate. (We even got entries from recruiters in HR.) The base instantly widened. And this also triggered greater collaboration, with folks from non tech functions joining forces with developers to take their ideas forward). ID8 has been one of our most successful programs to date. It opened the flood gates with an unprecedented number of idea submissions and two-thirds of the center participating.
What works to breathe innovation?
Who's responsible? Establishing accountability

The final and most important piece in the jigsaw is the promise and commitment that someone out there is accountable. I believe this has to begin with the leadership, before it trickles down. So, innovation is formally tracked at our quarterly business reviews, not just on quantitative, but, also qualitative parameters. Where measures were earlier productivity and process centric, they are now "outcome based," with the end goal in view. There are clear owners responsible for growing innovation at the center. And just as importantly, we share every big innovation landmark with our employees, because, we are in HC this together.
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A POINT OF VIEW
Successful women:
The need for more role models
E
Gautam Brahma
arlier this year Japan was hit by a severe earthquake and tsunami that mauled their 35-year old nuclear power generation complex in Fukushima. Recently Tepco, the power company responsible for running the plant, invited journalists to a guided tour to show how well the damage is being managed. One condition: no women were to come. Reason: there were no toilets for women in the entire complex. It is shocking to learn that a hightechnology complex that had been running for more than three decades in a democratic country with a highly developed economy, does not employ (-and has not ever employed-) any women. The status of women in Japanese business is telling. Just 10% of the managers are women (against more than 40% in the US). And while half of those graduating any year are women only two-thirds of these take up a job. Most women cite the low glass ceiling and the unfriendly design of the work organization as a reason for staying away. In a survey, almost two-thirds of those who left their jobs said that they did so because organizations did not accommodate flexible working. The country pays a price for this neglect. In another study from Goldman Sachs it was estimated that the Japanese economy could expand by as much as 15% if it increased female labour participation closer to male levels. The story of Japan is pretty much the story of Asia, give or take a few percentage points. While public policy changes and globalization will drive improvements everywhere in the long run, there is also a place for the motivation that role models provide.
These are sadly missing. The examples of successful women business leaders showcased by the media usually come from business families or that elite segment of society where child care and home management, two big problems for aspiring women in work organizations, are easy to handle. Where are the inspiring examples of women who brave great odds to succeed spectacularly at work and at home? There are innumerable stories of women who slog at hard work at low pay and raise their families with devotion, but there are fewer stars written about, who have gone right to the top of their chosen professions, while handling home and family. To be more precise, these stars exist but are not showcased adequately. In a recent issue of The New Yorker, Jill Lepore has written about one such woman who has continued to amaze me ever since I first came across the book 'Cheaper by the
Dozen' in the early '90's. Lillian Gilbreth co-founded the discipline of time and motion study and work measurement, so central to industrial engineering. In the early years of the 20th century that meant slogging away at observing, recording,
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A POINT OF VIEW
measuring and improving work practices in hot and dirty male preserves of steel mills, and factories making chemical and mechanical products. Over the period 1905-22 she wrote several books, performed shopfloorbased consulting and research assignments for many large manufacturing companies, enrolled for and completed a PhD, and successfully ran the business she and Frank Gilbreth had built around work measurement. Some of her books on scientific management are early classics in the field. While doing all this Lillian delivered 13 children, raised the 12 survivors on mother's milk, and ran her home and the children's school routines using all her learning at work e.g. efficient motion practices for, say, buttoning a shirt and soaping for a bath; incentive schemes for washroom use; innovative aids for mistake-proofing routine tasks; participatory group practices for decision making; hiring a general handyman and training him to become a complete housekeeper; and many more. Her routine during these years was incredible. Lepore describes a day when she (living in Providence) was invited to lecture at MIT (Cambridge, Mass.): "On the day of the lecture, she got five children ready for school, nursed her four-month-old, handed the two toddlers over to the housekeeper, and caught a ten-o'clock train. In Cambridge, she talked for twenty minutes and showed thirty-six slides when asked to stay late, she told her host that she had eight children to get home to. She made it back to Providence for the 6:30 P.M. nursing" The fact that she was married, had helped her gain access to the male-dominated manufacturing premises so vital to her area of work. After the death of her husband, who had cheerfully passed off much of her work as his own, she suddenly found this access denied. She switched gears to the emerging field of home economics and built a body of research-based knowledge on efficient work practices at home, particularly in the kitchen. For instance, the modern 'island' kitchen design is her idea. One among many that have become standard fare. Eventually she retired as a full professor at Purdue University and consulted for many other universities and colleges including the Harvard Business School. Many of Lillian's challenges in early 20th century America were similar to those faced by many Asian women today e.g. male prejudice, and complete responsibility for managing the home and the children. Not every one can or should do exactly what she did but the fact that she could do it all is surely inspirational. Particularly because she chose to do it in a field completely dominated by men. We do not have to dig too deep into Lillian's story but have to search out and showcase similar stories of women who not only coped successfully but also actually thrived in our own milieu. Hopefully the affirmative action that several large companies like Hindustan Unilever have been practicing for gender balance, in recent years, will throw up role-models for the rest of us. HC
Gautam Brahma is a management consultant.
December 2011
67
HR TOOLS
Helping leaders change!
N
V.S.GURUMANI
eeta Malik joined Reliable Fasteners as Personnel Officer in 1999, when it had 100 staff and one factory near Delhi. At that time, there was no senior team. Everything was managed by the owner, Dileep Parikh, a Gujarati entrepreneur who had set up shop in Gurgaon for Maruti. Initial years were tough. With the growth of the auto sector, Reliable too has grown today to six factories and 1000 staff. Neeta is well liked by Dileep and the senior managers and has grown. Till October 2010, she was Deputy General Manager (HR): personnel administration, performance management, recruitment and induction and the occasional problem employee. Things changed over the last year. The auto industry had a patchy year, affecting orders and suddenly Flexible came face to face with lots wrong with its working. It had coasted along on steady orders and never checked the profitability of different items it was supplying. There was no analysis of the efficiency of different functions. Function and division heads were assessed summarily and given increments and bonuses. It was all a happy family and contented company till the first half results for 2011 came in: there were losses and suddenly, everything seemed wrong with actions of several years. Dileep was taken aback. He had seen the numbers earlier, but never with an eagle eye and when he started reviewing trends, he realized that he could have foreseen problems had him- and his team- been strategic and forward looking. Had they watched what was going on carefully, they could have better prepared for the down turn. There had been early indications of quality issues and there were emails from many customers about excess inventory of many items supplied by Reliable. He rued that he had not been more diligent over several months, resulting in losses.
Things changed after that. New functions were introduced: Industrial Engineering, Quality Assurance (in additional to Quality Control), a small cell of two people attached to Dileep to coordinate management information for continuous strategic planning and monitoring and for Neeta: Human Resource Development. She was redesignated as Dy General Manager (HRD). Dileep called her into his office and gave her a little lecture on how he would rely on her, with her institutional memory and good knowledge of all key Reliable staff, to "transform the leadership of the organization". Neeta felt that Dileep was mouthing something he had heard from an advisor! But what he said after the lecture shook her: "Neeta, sadly, we have allowed a lot of slackness and dysfunctionalities to creep into our organization over time. I take personal responsibility for this. Now, I want your help to help deal with all these by working out specific (he repeated this word thrice in his short conversation) actions over the next six months. Can you come back to me with an action plan? You have a free hand to propose anything. I want your plan in seven days. Let me know if you need to sit with me, any time. Good luck" The way he said "good luck" told Neeta Dileep was serious. He had obviously spent lots of time on everything: numbers, systems, processes, people, responsibilities, structure... and had firmed up his mind about changing Reliable. Knowing Dileep, she knew he meant business. She knew he could be single minded and ruthless in getting results. She also knew that in all that he did, he would be smooth and professional. His word counted for a lot in the industry and his reference counted for a lot for everyone who worked with him. So, she knew she personally was on the cusp of a big opportunity-or a big failure-depending on how she dealt with what he had asked of her.
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The first thing she did after Dileep's meeting-it was late and all had left, but she had to gather her thoughts-was to hit her journal website, www.750words.com. She looked through her entries over the previous few months to see if her thoughts reflected any understanding of the crisis in Reliable. To her utter surprise, she found that she had been in a "business as usual" and completely missed the creeping crisis. And she reflected on incidents and events over the last year... She thought of meetings: lots of sound but no light; no decisions, only debates; no follow up and very little thread to pick up from one to the next. Lack of speed all over: loops not closed; even Dileep's directives not given importance (she winced that she herself was a culprit); little sense of urgency or priority. Low accountability and ownership in some areas, like quality: the fixing of blame for defects; unanswered questions regarding causes of scrap on the production line; lack of follow up of suppliers to improve quality. Endless emails over trivial things, to pass the buck, even where people in the chain knew the solution; the CYA (cover your arse) factor. No teamwork at the top: individual styles over collective working; personal weaknesses stifling team excellence: addiction to being right all the time, raging anger even in meetings, fixing blame and nurturing resentments, intolerance of others' views and actions, constantly playing "poor me", fault finding and even chronic lying. Not that Reliable had a particularly bad team-after all the same bunch had delivered results over the years. But somehow, the worst in them had been brought out over the last year or so. All this reminiscing helped her think. Her journal captured her mind state. Against her normal 750 words, she wrote 3000! She had poured all her thoughts out and when she looked up from her laptop, it was past ten. She hurriedly called her mother and drove home, puzzled about how to respond to Dileep. Neeta lived with her widowed mother. As an only child, she resolved not to marry as the sole source of support to her mother. Mother and daughter were great friends and shared many interests, including a passion for cricket. That night, Neeta told her mother that she felt lonely and confused. Recounting her conversation with Dileep, she told her mother that she did not know what to do next to meet his expectations. She could not sleep through the night and was up early, sipping some tea on the balcony. There was just that little winter nip in the air. She felt her mother gently wrap a shawl around her and sit next to her. Her mother looked at her as if to ask, "What next?" Neeta simply shrugged her shoulders and opened her journal entry on the laptop to her. Her mother had retired from the Mumbai Municipal Corporation as a supervisor and observed many situations at close quarters. Reading Neeta's para on teamwork and individual quirks and weaknesses, she asked Neeta about her new designation. She felt it gave Neeta legitimacy to take the whole issue head on. Neeta said, "Mom, I have been thinking that I should recommend to Dileep to bring in a high powered leadership consultant to help us here..." and was surprised to see her mother shake her head vigorously and say, "Then you can say bye to Reliable soon. If all you were going to do was to bring a consultant, what value are you attaching to Dileep's trust that you can develop human resources? He expects you to lead the process, not bring in an outsider! That may confuse everyone. Yes, if you tried your hand at straightening out things and then wanted to bring in help, he may understand. But not right now" And then: Neeta: "But what do I do now? How do I deal with all these senior guys without stepping on everyone's toes? Will they let me survive?" Mother: "Who says you have to deal with all of them. Remember, you have to deal with Dileep. Think through what you need to do and get him on your side first. You cannot talk to the senior team members without his backing" Neeta: "And how do I do it?" Mother: "With facts, my dear. Your role in Reliable is akin to Dileep's. Anything to do with people and finance in a company cuts across everything, like the CEO's role. Share with Dileep what you have observed frankly and fully. Don't leave out your own tendency to procrastinate. And if you have observed something in him, keep it for the second round, after you have won his support for everything else". Neeta: "I share the details, and then what?" Mother: "Neeta, Flexible pays you, not me! But remember what the Aussies do when they play cricket? '... they seek to win, not only every Test, but also every day and every session' Follow that logic. You want your senior guys to change, ask them to win every day at work over themselves..." Neeta presented an HRD action plan to Dileep covering all the senior managers including herself the same day. For senior member of the team, it listed the one thing he/she needed to change, with monthly desired changes in observed behaviour. She left out Dileep himself. She was pleasantly surprised to see Dileep's reply in her mail the same night, with a column added for him. He felt he needed to become more strategic in his behaviour. As they say, the rest was history. Flexible was a changed organization after a year. Most of the issues listed by Neeta in her reflection were acted upon. Surprisingly, new behaviours at the top produced cascading positives down the line and reversal of wastage and loss throughout the organization. Dileep himself found new energy: plans were afoot for diversifications and expansion, he was personally leading top level team building efforts, operations and quality were taking new initiatives to bring down costs and Flexible was winning new customers through his initiative. When she got her promotion to General Manager six months later, Neeta felt it was as much for her HC mother as for her!
V S Gurumani is Country Director, Project Concern International India, New Delhi. His email address is guru@pciindia.org.
December 2011
79
CAREER MANAGEMENT
redefining
careers in india
Employees hitting a career advancement ceiling poses a serious challenge to companies in India. An overemphasis on managerial careers may be one factor driving this persistent trend.
BY RICHA GULATI & SHATRUNJAY KRISHNA
ompanies in India have been struggling with high employee attrition rates for many years now. Excessive employee turnover increases the costs of recruitment and training, apart from hampering employee productivity. In service industries, attrition at senior levels can even lead to losing key clients to competitors. In Towers Watson's Global Workforce Study 2010, which surveyed 20,000 employees globally, including over 1,000 in India, career advancement was the biggest influence on employees' decisions to join an organization. Consequently, the study also found that employees in India who reported improvements in their advancement opportunities over the previous 12 months were more engaged compared with workers without such opportunities. High attrition rates are often blamed on the lack of career
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CAREER MANAGEMENT
advancement opportunities. Supplementing this thought is a survey of senior managers and executives in India conducted by CII and CSEND, which found the lack of career advancement as the second most-important factor, salary being first, fueling high employee turnover. In order to study the career advancement opportunities in India and the need for employers to define new paths for their employees, it is important to understand the following: 1) the mismatch between employees' career aspirations and the opportunities available, 2) changes in organizational workforce demographics over time and 3) employees' perceptions of their career needs. Figure 1. Age structures in the U.S. and India
A mismatch between career aspirations and opportunities

As per Towers Watson's research, Fifty-six percent of employees in India believe they must leave their organization to advance to a better job. Comparative figures stand at 43 percent for the United States, 41 percent for the United Kingdom, 38 percent for China and 37 percent for Germany. This clearly suggests that a large number of employees in India have come to seriously consider job-hopping as a means to advance their careers. Employing some standard retention tools, a few companies have responded to the mismatch between career aspirations and opportunities by offering fast-track promotions. But this practice only exacerbates the attrition problem. Subject matter specialists cannot automatically become good managers and leaders and a myopic approach towards employing promotions alone to retain talent is bound to have counter productive implications. Recent media reports also observe that employees are working longer hours at the expense of a reasonable work-life balance to gain faster promotions and bonuses. Another retention strategy adopted by companies in India, especially IT companies, is to offer the technical staff employee stock
Source: Towers Watson 2010 Global Workforce Study.
option plans (ESOPs) along with managerial promotions. But again, this solution often makes a bad situation worse. These plans give employees some "skin in the game," through owning a share of the company in the form of stock. But the strategy has the unintended consequence of making entrepreneurship more attractive to them, thereby pushing turnover rates higher in the IT industry. Entrepreneurship imposes managerial responsibilities and requires a willingness to take risks, and to invest in yourself and your own company. It is a well known fact that TechSpan, NIIT, Pertech Computers, Global Infotech, InfoTech Enterprises, STG and Infogain were all set up by ex-Wipro employees. Other leading software firms too are alive to these concerns. It is ironic that employees perceive a dearth of opportunities for career advancement when so many organizations in India are planning for substantial growth and
expansion. It could be inferred that these growth plans do not necessarily include generating challenging career paths for the majority of employees. Instead, many organizations are dividing and even sub-dividing existing career opportunities by implementing faster promotions and similar such practices. As a result, we observe an overemphasis on managerial career paths in companies in India and the growth in management courses confirms this observation. India has witnessed a sudden upsurge in the number of MBA institutes/courses in recent years. Between 2005 and 2011, the number of All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE)-approved management programs jumped by 100 percent, and the number of management seats grew by more than 200 percent. A number of technical institutions, such as engineering colleges, have also started offering MBAs as an additional degree. In the long run, this trend is likely to create a skills
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deficit in non-managerial academic studies. In the next section, we investigate the overemphasis on managerial career paths in light of the underlying changes in organizational workforce demographics in India. the organizational value chain as they become more capable or skilled. In these industries, quite naturally, the traditional path of becoming a supervisor is not necessarily applicable. Workers can grow into their next career stage by becoming more competent. To understand the different shape of today's workforce, we plot the age structure for a representative sample of employees in large organizations in India and the U.S. Clearly, there are stark differences across countries, possibly arising from differences in business models as well as demographics. Emerging economies like India are reaping a demographic dividend, and their knowledge-based and service industries, such as IT, are savouring the benefits that accompany explosive growth. As shown in Figure 1, a huge pool of young talent - those between age 25 and age 35 - makes up as much as 60 percent of the total workforce in India. The U.S. workforce, on the other hand, looks more like an inverted pyramid, with a concentration of aging employees. As Figure 2 shows, the workforce used to be compatible with a traditional career path, with the largest concentration of workers at the bottom of the climb. The "Now" diagrams reflect new demographic realities in India and the United States. Traditional upward career trajectories may not be available for all young professionals, as there are too few managerial positions available Thus, companies need to create innovative and unconventional career paths to keep workers happy and control attrition rates. Differences in the shape of organizational demographics across countries also implies that career advancement strategies may need to vary from one country to the next for example, an approach that succeeds in the United States might not work in India. This has significant implications for multinational organizations, which must accommodate the unique requirements of different countries in designing their global career frameworks.
Changing workforce demographics

Recent changes in organizational workforce demographics partly explain why the emphasis on managerial career paths is misguided today, according to Tamara J. Erickson, who has authored a research paper on the future of work in People and Strategy. Erickson says, "Many of today's organizational principles are centered on the premise that the workforce is shaped like a pyramid." Over the last century, the pyramidal or bell shape of the workforce - a small number of older workers, moderate number of mid-career workers and many young workers facilitated traditional upward mobility. The result was a workforce with a few top managers, somewhat more midlevel supervisors/managers and many workers. The pyramidal workforce harkens back to the prominence of manufacturing or process-driven organizations, such as the military, railways and government. These organizations thrived on multiple supervisory levels, and employees would move up the hierarchy to become a manager or supervisor. The business model required command and control and a vertical hierarchy to emphasize supervision at various levels. However, changing economic trends have gradually come to favor tertiary industries where supervision is not central to the success of the organization. With the emergence of service/knowledge-driven tertiary industries in India comes a variety of roles that create value for customers mostly through the capability of the workforce. Accordingly, emphasis is shifting to becoming a more capable worker rather than a manager or supervisor. In other words, employees move up
RICHA GULATI
Senior Economist
Towers Watson
Richa Gulati works as a Senior Economist with the Research and Analytical Services team at Towers Watson. She has a Masters degree in Economics from Delhi School of Economics and specializes in research related to talent and rewards issues faced by organizations globally.
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Figure 2. Workforce attitudes in India How do you define career advancement in your job? (% of respondents) Manager Increasing my compensation Acquiring new skills that make me eligible for other jobs Achieving higher status or recognition Obtaining a position in senior leadership Acquiring new skills that help me do my current job better Moving up a well-defined career path Moving laterally across the organization to take on different but equivalent roles Some other way 65 61 60 60 59 56 32 7 Specialist/ technician 61 63 58 52 71 59 35 6
Three most significant barriers to career advancement (% of respondents) Manager The organization has reduced the number of job levels so there is less advancement opportunity It is difficult to obtain a transfer or lateral movement It is difficult to identify the opportunities available to me There are no career advancement opportunities in my current role 57 55 42 33 Specialist/ technician 41 51 35 35 36 36 22 17
Employees in positions above me are choosing not to retire, 32 reducing my options for advancement My manager does not advocate on my behalf I do not believe I have the skills required to advance I do not have the personal desire to advance Source: Towers Watson Global Workforce Study 2010. As has been reported in the media, large Indian companies are already luring away talent from multinationals in India with the promise of better career opportunities. Foreign multinational firms in India, being offshoots of global parent companies, tend to offer fragmented and stationary roles to employees. Large Indian companies, on the other hand, are riding the wave of explosive growth and are offering their employees exciting opportunities to innovate and manage large-scale projects. 28 19 13
Employees speak out

We now look at employees' own opinions (Figure 3) before proposing solutions to the mismatch between
their career aspirations and available opportunities. As part of Towers Watson Global Workforce Study 2010, a sample of 1,101 employees from midsize to large organizations in India shared their thoughts about career advancement. Our comparative analysis highlights the differing career aspirations of managers and specialists. While 65 percent of managers regard pay raises as the most important manifestation of advancement, 71 percent of specialists rate acquiring new skills more highly. Other important rewards include (1) gaining high status and a senior leadership position for managers, and (2) higher compensation and a well-defined
SHATRUNJAY KRISHNA
Senior Consultant Towers Watson Talent & Rewards Group, India
Shatrunjay Krishna is a Senior Consultant with Towers Watson Talent & Rewards Group in Gurgaon. He has over eight years of experience in large scale transformation projects and their implementation on the ground.
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Figure 3. Multiple career ladders
Source: Towers Watson career path for specialists. As expected, no more than onethird of managers and technical staff view lateral job movement as career advancement. However, more than 50 percent of them consider the difficulty of transfers or lateral movements a significant barrier to career advancement. model. These ladders reflect the organizations' job families/functions and define progressions within and across them (see Figure 4). These career ladders serve three fundamental purposes: 1) Inform associates and managers of the multiple career tracks available. This helps them understand the rich universe of opportunities and empowers them to plan their own careers. 2) Identify advancement opportunities in terms of both lateral and vertical movement. Supported by clear competency requirements, these ladders also help employees understand their natural talent and move in the direction of their own competencies. This is a business enabler in terms of developing a competency-focused workforce. A diagram like the one in Figure 4 illustrates how these career ladders help identify potential career paths. 3) Help companies forecast their workforce requirements at various stages of the ladder and build HR programs that align employees' expectations with business realities. These career ladders must be rooted in the organizational context to work. Deployed appropriately, this career framework can be central to the strategy of creating an engaged and productive workforce.
The way forward: A Towers Watson perspective

As there is not enough room at the top for everyone to be promoted up, offering multiple career tracks is one of the most viable solutions, especially for 25-to-35-year-olds. Employers can restructure their career paths from the traditional model of grade promotion to competence development. In our work with clients who have successfully taken career development thinking to the next stage, we help them redefine careers in terms of parallel ladders in line with their business and operating
Conclusion
Employees' hitting a career advancement ceiling poses a serious challenge to companies in India. An overemphasis on managerial careers may be one factor driving this persistent trend. Today's workforce will not fit into a traditional organizational hierarchy. One solution is to adopt multiple career tracks that identify different job families/ functions and thus open up career movement within and across these jobs. For the strategy to succeed, however, organizations must carefully align all aspects of talent management (including rewards) HC with the new career models.
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INTERVIEW
democratizing leadership
The momentum of democracy that is deep rooted in many historic political settings has now entered the spheres of corporate world. For instance, the process of voting is not new to businesses - there have been shades of voting in shareholder and board meetings, however, with the incarnation of social media, voting is utilized in everything from what goes into a product to what goes into management. Dell's IdeaStorm is one of the impressive examples of organizations directly seeking votes from their customers to determine what to produce. At IdeaStorm one can contribute new product ideas, review and vote the product ideas for Dell to produce. This method of seeking the votes of consumers (and stakeholders) is established to be a competitive advantage for businesses. McKinsey describes this as 'Big Data' - 'the method of gathering and applying inputs of each customer interface and transaction'. In fact, a great management thinker, Professor C. K. Prahalad has coined the word 'co-creation', and we are witnessing 'the democratization of the industry', where 'organizations are built for, by and of people'. Similarly, 'vote leadership' has to become the focus of organizations in order to achieve co-creation in corporates. Democracy is all encompassing. Policy makers can start looking at workplace practices that are well suited with democratic values. Sangeeth Varghese, a young globally acknowledged leadership thinker in a tete-atete with Human Capital, shares his views on the need to democratize leadership in Indian corporates and how to go about achieving it!
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BY ARVA SHIKARI
hy is there a need for democratizing leadership in Indian corporates? In a way, leadership and democracy are two opposite ends of the spectrum. Leadership, as we traditionally define it is one person in control of things. A person who is willing to take charge, make appropriate decisions, push others to take action be it through carrot or stick and produce results is our image of an ideal leader. However, democracy is a different ball game. We define democracy as rule of the people, by the people and for the people. Here, the one person leadership loses importance and the voice of the people takes prominence. And that brings along with it several problems. The first problem is being diversity of voices in the system. Each one of us has got our own priorities and concerns and hence the choices that we make tend to be completely different. That would mean a complete cacophony in the system. Imagine a meeting, where there is no central command, but people are sitting and trying to decide on something. All that would result would be waste of time and no consensus. So, in short, democracy is a complex system, with innumerable nuances which only an evolved system can accommodate. You cannot force-fit democracy, but, it has to evolve out. For example, look at the Western democracies; they evolved slowly through the ups and downs to reach the place where they are now, which makes them more stable, less corrupt, more controlled
and more accountable. This brings me to - democratising corporates. My point is that no one has to democratise corporates because democracy is an evolutionary game. Just like organisms, organizations evolve. And by organizations, I mean every kind of cross section of the society. They could be families, they could be nation states, and they could be corporates. Like organisms, they evolve from simple structures to complicated structures. Organisms evolve because they have to cope up with the uncertain environment that surrounds them, to beat competition so that they can ultimately survive. Organisations evolve for exactly the same reason. And they evolve again from simpler structures to complex structures. A simple structure is an autocratic structure - where the entire decision making is concentrated on one person - an autocrat. This is a simple structure because of multiple factors - when there is a threat or an opportunity in the system, people know whom to turn towards, and they know who makes the decision, who controls the system, and who is ultimately accountable and responsible. That makes the system nimble. However, as time goes by, this autocrat starts making concessions to the people below him - primarily because he feels that it is good for him. For example, for an autocrat the best taxation is 100% where he takes away all that his people produces and saves, but, at 100% taxation, none has an incentive either to produce or save, hence the autocrat ends up with little. However, if the autocrat lowers the
taxes to a rate at which his people find the maximum motivation to work and save then he actually increases his yield by lowering taxes than 100% taxes. Concessions like these that the autocrat gives out to his people for his own advantage, eventually, results in increasing the voice and power of the ruled (even without the knowledge of the autocrat). For example, lower taxes means more wealth in the hands of people, more wealth means more power to challenge structures, which eventually leads to more concessions, more liberal structures, more complicated governance and eventually democracy. So, from a simple autocratic structure where one person rules, we reach a
Sangeeth Varghese is the founder of LeadCap. He is the author of 'Open Source Leader' and 'Decide to Lead'. He was nominated as a Young Global Leader 2010 by the World Economic Forum, Davos and was honoured as the first Asian Youth Ambassador by the government of Libya. Varghese is a mentor for several CEOs and sits on the boards of two companies. He is on the advisory board of the Global Oath and is the founding curator of the Global Shapers Programme of the World Economic Forum. Previously, Varghese was a Principal Consultant for UNO based out of London. Varghese researched and studied leadership at Harvard and the London School of Economics with scholarships. He has done his MBA and Bachelor's in Economics with gold medals.
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complex democratic structure where everyone has a part in the ruling and power. This evolution from simple to complex structures can happen only through slow evolution. If force fitted it will fall apart. So, the point which I am trying to make is that it cannot be force-fitted into a corporate which incidentally are extremely autocratic structures with a CEO or owner (whether it is Bill Gates or Jack Welch or NRN) at the centre deciding everything and all rest are just order takers (whether we like it or not). Yet, I believe that our age is the most conducive for this democratic change in corporates. This age is the most conducive change in corporates because I see similar trends those that caused the changes in nation states in the environment emerging. Changes like democratization of information through Facebook, Twitter etc, and democratization of information through more collaborative structures and more egalitarian families etc. So, we are probably ready for a change where you would see more democratic corporates. In fact, if you look around in structures like Open Source software movement, you would know what I am talking about. To what extent do corporates and young professionals perceive a need for democratizing leadership in organizations? Change is a slow process that grows on us. In fact revolutions in Libya, Tunisia could appear to be sudden, but, if you look deeper they are not happening suddenly. They have been brewing for the last 20 or 30 or even 40 years. And when the time is right and the environment is conducive it just erupts and the change starts rolling. What according to you are the required haves in democratizing leadership in the Indian context? How can those be achieved in corporates? Democratization of leadership could happen through three means - all part of the evolutionary process first, a leader is self-aware that his style of functioning is democratic and opens up the closed leadership system, second, competition and environment forces the corporate to open up their leadership systems and third the democratic system is already institutionalised in the system. Unfortunately, none of the companies are yet completely democratic. Nevertheless, some of them definitely have shades of democracy in them and they are nurturing them well, too. I would predict that in the next 10 years or so, we should see some great transformations in the industry as far as power and authority are concerned. To what extent can this approach decrease/remove corruption and malfeasance in corporates? Can it build a commitment to social goals fuelled by enlightened self-interest? Well, unfortunately as far as corruption and red tapism is concerned, democracy is always a breeding ground rather than otherwise. As when it is an autocratic institution, it is one person who is in control. He monopolises the systems and hence even corruption is monopolised. For example, there is one point which eats up all the corruption. It is up to him, whether he wants to share it with his trusted lieutenants or whether he wants to keep everything for himself. However, in the case of democracy, the system is not so simple. There is no one point, which can monopolise all the systems. There are multiple stakeholders, multiple parties, multiple check points, multiple barriers - small ones, large ones, very large ones - all of them would want a share of money. All of them would want their booty. And the complexity of the system makes sure that it is difficult to track them down and pin them down. However, with the evolution of the system, and with the system attaining more complexities, slowly strong rules and regulations are built in to the democratic system, which plays a good part in weeding out corruption, although, in the initial stages of any democracy corruption is a given thing. How can corporates build opportunities for developing a democratized leadership attitude and approach in Gen Y? Gen Y is another reason why democracy would be fuelled at a faster pace in organizations. This generation is used to democracy everywhere. They are seeing democratic homes, where they have an equal voice as their parents, whether it is which school to go to, which TV to buy or where to spend their holidays. They are also surrounded by institutions that make earlier closed systems democratic for example, Facebook and Twitter. Information, which was earlier the privilege of a few people, now is suddenly opened up to the masses. They get to know secrets; they get to share inside stories, all without anyone snooping over them. And when they join corporates, it is almost impossible to expect them to adhere to rules of a closed world, when they are used to a complete an open world outside. Hence they rebel. They push the system. And they start the opening of the closed system process. As a Gen Yer, how do you practice democratizing leadership in your own organization? LeadCap is one of the organisations where democracy is practiced to the highest extent. Our people control the system, they make the system. They define the vision for the company, they define the rules they want to play by, they define when to work and when to play, and they define their incentives and penalties. However, I also have to admit that we went through our own evolutionary process before the system could be perfected. We had our own falls, we had our own problems. Now, the system has evolved and people are mature enough in LeadCap to understand their rights, privileges and responsibilities. As ultimately democracy is a double edged sword it not only comes along with privileges, but, also its own responsibilities and HC accountabilities.
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PSYCHOLOGY AT WORK
Psychology of money
J
Manavi Pathak
harkhand computer operator changes fortunes by winning five crores in KBC "Its sad Mukesh Ambani lives in such opulence" commented Ratan Tata few months ago when asked about Antilla, 27 storeyAmbani home Business families are seeking professional help to realize their philanthropic aspirations : Survey Report As a driving force in modern civilization money plays an integral part in our daily lives , from spending a vast majority of our time working hard for money to financial planning for the future. Research has identified a number of emotions surrounding money, which differs from person to person. For a few people, money can be a source of security or freedom or self-esteem. For others. it is a cause of anxiety or dependence. Then there are various themes associated with money, " A penny saved is penny earned", themes of overspending , not having enough, philanthropy and sharing wealth with the less fortunate. Money although considered as an instrument of commerce and measure of value is " profoundly influenced by culture and social structures". Our attitude towards money and spending is based on our early life experiences and how we organize these information. We are barraged with messages about money and values associated with money from toddlerhood to older adulthood. The way each of us processes and organizes these messages is individualistic. Thus, programming towards money starts at a very young age. Even people in the same family are likely to organize their views and Avoidant MiserInsatiable Micromanager
their relationship with money very differently. Money had rarely been considered worthy of study by psychologists , perhaps it seem to be a matter of interest for economists and financiers. More recently, Psychologists and Organizational researchers have examined the meaning of money from several disciplines : sociology, economics, anthropology and management. How does the presence of money influence one's feeling, emotions and intentions ? Psychiatrist Salman Akhtar interestingly points out that " any conversation about money isn't really about money but it's about power, prestige and even sexuality". He adds further " Extreme wealth gives a sense of omnipotence and you are no longer the same person . You start treating yourself as an exception, meaning ordinary laws of society do not apply to you leading to arrogance and entitlement, however it does not always happen this way".
Money personality
Money Personality is based on our understanding of how we think, feel and deal with money . Eileen F Gallo, Ph.d studied the concept of money personality and has provided valuable insights. Eileen has developed a model of Money personality which has three dimensions. ( Refer to the diagram below). The first dimension is one of Acquisition : this deals with how we get money. One end of the ruler is the Avoidant, where money is considered as the root of all evil. At the other end is the Insatiable, who can go to any extent, even break rules to acquire money. Most of us tend to be in the middle as we neither fear
Over spender Chaotic Secure Insecure
Insecure
Figure : Money Personality based on Dimension of Acquisition, Use and Management
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money nor we go to the extent of breaking rules to acquire more. The second dimension is Use : this deals with how we save or spend. On the one end is the miser or stingy type which we might have seen in our families and friends who are extremely careful about spending a penny and on the other hand is the compulsive spender who gets satisfaction by spending lots of money. Again most of us are in the middle being reasonably careful and conscious of our use of money. The third dimension is related to Management : how we manage money. It includes everything from paying bills to managing our investment portfolio. Some of these are often delegated to professional advisors. On the one hand is the obsessive compulsive who micro manages down to the last dime. At the other end is the chaotic individual who is extremely disorganized or procrastinates paying bills most of the times to such an extent that it gets him or her into trouble. Each of us tends to have different degrees of security or insecurity when dealing with the three dimensions of Acquisition, Use and Management. For each of us one or two of these dimensions tend to be more important than the other. This occurs because either our relationship in that dimension is secure and successful or insecure and problem laden. Even if all our money relationships are reasonably secure we are likely to find that one dimension is more important to you than others. For example, of you are an entrepreneur and your goal in life is creating and selling new businesses acquisition is likely to be more important than either use or management. There is nothing wrong or abnormal if one relationship is more important than others. However, there are instances when dealing with money or wealth often leads to some sort of pathology or neurosis which will be described in the section below. with strife and conflict. Dr. DevadattaPattanaik, leading mythologist explains its very well by saying " Alakshmi is the goddess of strife. She causes quarrels , she is called jyestha or elder one , because she is the elder sister of Lakshmi, goddess of wealth." The candid example he uses to explain this was IPL. As wealth poured into IPL everyone raved about the meteoric rise of the brand, it was clear that Alakshmi was round the corner. Therefore, the old wise saying goes if you want Lakshmi to come to your life you must never chase her. She should chase you otherwise she will come with her twin-sister. A house filled with wealth as well as strife is the place where both Lakshmi and Alakshmi reside. How money makes you feel about you ? The answer to this question is
Miser : Hoards Money . Tend to not admit being niggardly, but have terrible fear of losing funds, tend to be distrustful and have trouble enjoying the benefits of money. Spendthrift : Tends to be compulsive and uncontrolled in his/her spending and does so particularly when depressed, feeling worthless and dejected. Spending is an instant and short-lived gratification that frequently leads to guilt. Tycoon : Totally absorbed with money making, which is seen as the best way to gain power status and approval. Bargain Hunter : Compulsively hunts for bargains, getting things for less makes him/her feel superior Gambler : Feels optimistic by taking chances . Tend to feel difficult to stop even when losing because of the sense of power they achieve when winning.
money comes to symbolize something that meet psychological requirements of safety, security, love and power. While money can in part , satisfy some of these needs, externally it cannot , however buy those psychological characteristics it is sought to achieve. Many people assume that this lack of success is caused by not having sufficient money. Hence, the miser, spendthrift and gambler become worse with time and going ahead they also become ambivalent about money.
SabseBada rupaiya? Not really

Human Resource managers have long struggled with the belief that money plays and important role to motivate people to work productively. Organizations spend a huge amount of money developing compensation and incentive schemes to reward their employees, however it has been realized that money cannot be a panacea for all motivational issues. In a recent survey published in Forbes Magazine, it was reported that most successful employees in an organization admitted that their primary motivation has been to build something lasting , not to make a lot of money. This is not to suggest that money doesn't motivate at all . Certainly it encourages self-serving materialism. Those organizations or employers who rely on money as the sole or primary motivator are on perilous terrain, particular if they ignore the other powerful and emotional sources of human motivation such as self-esteem, nonmonetary recognition, autonomy etc. Therefore a few important pointers for organizations : Money encourages self-serving short-term behaviors better than it motivates lasting institutional achievement An overreliance on monetary rewards invariably erodes monetary commitment Pride is one's work is what brings on lasting improvements in behavior Informal elements of motivation are at least as important as the HC formal ones
Dr Manavi Pathak is an Organizational Psychologist and Consultant. She can be reached at manavi.pathak@sify.com.
Money madness
Often extreme wealth is associated
complex and helps us understand the pathologies associated with handling money . Different researchers have developed the typologies associated and the one developed by Furnham (1996) is described below. Many of the descriptions below are of serious cases whose money pathology influences their whole lives. Inevitably, ordinary people may experience some of these problems , however to a lesser extent.What this limited but fascination literature also shows that
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PERSONA
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PERSONA
course
Moving from the education and marketing sector, Shalini Kamath has made her mark as a successful human resources professional. Her aspiration: to work as a catalyst to change people's drive towards being passionate about what they choose to do.
a change of
BY ARVA SHIKARI
escribe your student life in India. My early student life was in Dehradun, a beautiful quaint valley town in the Northern part of our country. It was all girls' college and life was rather simple in comparison with the competitiveness that I witness today. College meant a lot of time in the college lawns chatting with friends, basking in the sun in the winter months, singing away to glory with batch mates all around the college, participating in all the dance and music festivals, going for picnics to all the lovely picnic spots around Doon in the Army 3 tons (there was a lot of army influence in our lives with the IMA and the retired officers settling in Doon), watching and ogling over the army cadets on the weekends on the main Rajpur Road, having socials in the afternoon in
the living rooms of our homes by creating a discotheque at home drawing the drapes of all windows, switching dim lights, moving the furniture to create a dancing floor in the centre of the room, organize beer and loud music and dance from 3 pm in the afternoon till 7 pm in the evening and settle the room back to its original shape and form before the parents would return from work. And, of course, there was studying mostly near the exam time. Good dedicated professors, but, not very competitive. The focus was on getting first class which was considered good. I was a fairly bright student and my passion was Physics, wanted to be an engineer and go to IIT Rourkee, which my parents refused to send me, as we were two daughters at home and we were trained in all the important ingredients of becoming good wives
- sewing, knitting, needlework, cooking, baking, etc. How different was it from the student life in UK while you did your MBA from Edinburgh Business School? I did my MBA post eight years of work. Studying made much better sense to me here rather than during the earlier student life. The approach at the business school was purely through the case studies route and therefore was much more enjoyable and one could relate better to the situations. Studying was difficult with two children and a home, but, when you pay through your nose for educating yourself you do somehow put in a lot of effort - I was no different. How did you get your first job? What were the challenges and what
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did you learn from them? the junior most and I have to admit My first job was as a teacher in a I did learn a lot through the process. primary school in Zambia as I got My detail orientation came through married when I was 19 and left home the runs and reruns I had to do for to be in Africa where my husband all the drafts till they were polished was working. Very soon I was picked and ready to be presented. up by the school to be part of the team that was working with a US What made you decide or choose to get into HR? Was it a smooth education consultancy company that was looking at curriculum transition? development for primary schools HR happened to me through cajoling across Southern Africa. I truly by my colleague. enjoyed both parts of my job. I was handling marketing for Teaching little African children, they Raytheon for their large million dollar were true darlings. I also learnt that defence and infrastructure projects how some stereo types that we form in our lives are completely false - the African kinky hair is like cotton wool at that young age, Africans are as human NAME Shalini Kamath and sensitive as any other race. Their aspirations, their TITLE MD - Corporate desires from life are similar to the rest of the world. I Communication & understood different cultures and its nuances. ORGANIZATION Ambit The African culture was very different to the Indian EXPERIENCE 23 years culture, which in turn was very different to the culture YEARS IN HR 12 years of the Indian communities that had settled in Africa AGE 45 years since generations, and this was different from the EDUCATION MBA culture of the resident whites and this was again different from the culture in India. The job was extremely that the expatriates lived by. It was interesting as it helped me learn a fascinating for me to watch the lot about the capabilities of interplay between these cultures at Raytheon across sectors. I learnt that young age. These early about our capability to build experiences taught me the power of airports, ports, power plants as EPC observation. I still can feel, see, hear, contractors. I learnt a lot about and observe what is unsaid and aviation through our mid sized unheard in meetings, in interactions, aircrafts that we sold in India. We in teams. marketed to the defence forces for The second part of my job was very interesting. I was the youngest our high end combat and reconnaissance equipment which and least experienced member of were just pure fascinating. And, then the team. There were some stalwarts that had either been experts in the India tested nuclear and most of our activities had to be suspended. field of education and some of them Raytheon decided to shrink its had even done comparative studies in curriculum across the American operations in India and it gave me an opportunity to rethink my career. and African regions. I learnt a lot A colleague of mine propelled me from all of them as I asked a lot of into getting into HR. She felt I had questions. Also, I ended up doing a the right mix to be successful in this lot of rut work for all of them being field. I interviewed with Chevron Texaco. I had to undergo six levels of interviewing and to my surprise they hired me as their HR head for India, despite zero experience in HR. I shall ever remain thankful to Chevron for teaching me HR. For the first three months of my orientation, I visited their exploration, manufacturing, distribution plants across the region and interacted with CEOs and HR heads of various countries. My regional HR Head, Yohan and his team in Singapore familiarized me with all the global HR practices. I questioned everything and absorbed like a sponge. Through this process, the realization came to be that within HR resides the beautiful co-existence of art and science and there is immense contribution that a HR professional can make not just to the organization, but to each member within the organization - the potential is immense as it is up to us as to how and what we contribute. I have truly enjoyed my career within HR. Initially, as I was new to the profession and did not have large armour of experiences to support my strategies or viewpoint I had to therefore work even more hard to substantiate, but over the years it has become a smoother ride. How has been your journey thereafter in the different roles of HR in different companies? Each organization is different and has its own culture. Each sector has its own nuance and it has been an enriching experience for me to have been associated with such world class companies and contribute to them. Chevron Texaco was a classic structured multinational. Well defined and well accepted processes. A huge thrust on safety considering it is an oil and gas company - each meeting began with the safety tip for the day. My biggest challenge was large scale redundancy. In those years it was not a norm and had to be handled
In brief
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very delicately. The only way ever to do it is being humane and considerate as there is a social implication of a layoff. The challenge provided me with the learning of the value of communication. Star was a high growth, high energy company and completely unstructured in its approach. Tying up a tiger through ropes of processes would have been a biggest mistake one would have committed. Creating a framework within which there was independence along with certain rules was an exciting journey. Being part of the core team that set up Star News and two radio stations within 10 months while running the established channels and distribution assignment with a small Indian company that set out to become a full fledged financial services company and the path has been arduous, difficult, challenging, but truly enjoyable. The pride and satisfaction associated with creating something from a small base is tremendous and I have had the opportunity of being part of this creation. Through this journey I also learnt the importance of financial rewards in financial services. What has been your biggest professional achievement/s? Being offered a regional role at Chevron Texaco to making a difference in someone's professional undertaking and would build upon is to ensure that we harvest this collective potential to be an extremely high performing organization, while keeping our inherent core values of ethics, integrity and customer orientation in place. The market realities for most of our businesses are ever changing and evolving and our desire is to stay ahead of the curve that would necessitate us to be more innovative, smart and nimble and I would strive to ensure that our workforce delivers on these to create a highly reputed organization. What are your guiding principles that keep you to leading HR and corporate communications effectively at Ambit? The principles that have helped me in my profession and my life in everything that I have done are hard work, honesty and a straight forward and common sensical approach. Consistently working upon these very basic principles have been the foundation of my career. How as a HR leader, do you go about developing yourself? Each day and each challenge is an opportunity to learn from. I have been very fortunate to have some outstanding and brilliant bosses and I have learnt a lot working with them. I have learnt a lot by interacting with my peers and other HR and corporate communications and marketing professionals with other leading companies and it has truly helped me learn newer trends. Attending a lot of non HR conferences has helped me develop wider horizons. There is so much to learn from the younger generation of today. I am amazed at their multi tasking skills, creative and thinking minds, comfort with technology and a non biased approach. Also, life's experiences have been a great learning ground for me. The material knowledge is available at a click of a button, but, the experiential knowledge is to be only gathered through day to day experiences. I
network is an unforgettable experience. With barely four hours of sleep in a day we would still be raring to go and contribute, day after day and month after month was and still remains an amazing fact. KPMG with its extremely formal consultancy culture exposed me to the partnership model and frameworks. The focus, the detail orientation, the calibre of talent, the professionalism of each employee as a representative of the company, the understanding of credibility and accountability of one's opinions and advice was commendable. HR in such an environment meant change through personal interactions and a very logical approach which would resonate highly with an intellectual workforce. Ambit has exposed me to true 'entrepreneurship'. This was my first
life through a conversation are all achievements for me. Devising strategies that help businesses flourish to being able to make a CEO see the benefit in changing his/her people practice is all achievements. It's the results of a program rather than the program itself that I see we need to see as our achievements in. What is your strategic HR vision for Ambit? How do you plan to achieve that? Over the last few years to meet our aspirations of becoming a full fledged financial services company, we have acquired capable professionals and teams. The quality and capability of the combined talent is best in class and I am proud to say that is far superior to most of our competitors in the market place. The strategic initiatives that we are currently
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am not an ardent reader - I have outsourced that to my husband. I don't proclaim to be highly intellectual and also feel there is still so much to be learnt. I do feel going back to school, periodically, helps you develop newer perspectives and approaches. I have not been able to do that in the last few years and am considering that seriously. What were your learnings about handling large scale redundancy? What advice would you give to other HR pros on this matter? Redundancies and layoffs have become part and parcel of our working life. It is truly unfortunate, but with constant pressures on organizations to deliver quarter by quarter results and to deal with constant uncertainties and volatility in the business environment there is a constant need to become lean and reduce inefficiencies. My philosophy in such instances has been to communicate honestly with the individuals concerned, ensure their dignity is maintained through the process, and lend a helping hand if possible. Sound communication and an honest and transparent approach goes a long way in ensuring that the parting is smooth, the social stigma and impact due to redundancy is reduced and the parting employee still remains a well wisher of the organization. It's difficult to achieve this in all the cases, but, if there is 85-90% success, I term it as great achievement. I also firmly believe that the same people that may not be working out in your organization or are not able to contribute and make an impact could be great contributors in other organizations which provides them with a platform that is conducive to their talents. What has been your experience in Southern Africa in terms of business oriented community development? I had a long 12 year stint in Southern Africa and have worked with the communities at very close quarters. I have also witnessed South Africa both during its apartheid period and the post apartheid period. While there was huge disparity in various communities that resided in the country, there were various things that were going right as well for the country, the sad proposition was that certain segments of the population were unable to experience these positives. And, that provided a huge landscape to make some difference by the corporates. The three areas that I worked in were in the field of skill development, education, HIV reduction especially in the corporate world. Fortunately, funding was never an issue in all instances as during apartheid there were large funds available from international organization and post apartheid from the government. The challenges lay with the motivation levels of people to truly learn and change their lives. The inertia in many cases was very difficult to fight. The resentment by the 'have not's' towards the 'haves' was so intense that any other desire to change life was overcome. Also, the desire to work hard was a great challenge. If you had a magic stick and had a chance to make a significant development in one specific area of HR practices worldwide, where would that fall? It would be in the area of working as a catalyst to change people's drive towards being passionate about what they choose to do. As we go through our organizations, we find there categories of people - first the ones that truly know why they are here and they work towards making a difference and adding value in whatever they do. Second, who are part of an organization to make a living and are hard working and try contributing to the level they can. Third are the suckers or opportunists - give the minimum and extract the maximum. They are also disruptive and drag the organizations down. They have the potential, but, chose not to utilize it or lack the drive to. I would like to work with the last category of people. Any advice for aspiring HR leaders on the new path to the C-Suite. Think strategically with a business oriented view as only when the business exists and grows the people within exist and grow. Have very sound execution capability as the best of ideas and strategies fail to deliver because of poor implementation. And last, but, not the least - do not lose the human touch. As organizations grow and become successful, people within such organizations just become an employee number and a count. It's important that the human connect that we also seek is provided to each and every employee of the company and the best people to do that are the HR resources of an organization. Not only does it help the people as they have a sounding board, but, it also helps organizations as it provides early warning signals, which can be worked upon and corrected before it is too late. On a personal note, what are your favourite things to do in the past and now I enjoy working. It is part of my existence and identity. Apart for that, music has always been my passion and will continue to remain so. I love going to concerts, theatre, and literature festivals and also enjoy creating apparel with hand woven fabrics. The only other alternate career, if I ever look at one, will now be either in the field of music or in the field of hand woven fabrics. Describe three things that define your personal style? Quality, perfection and fairness. The most significant learning in your life and how it influences you till today There are two learnings that I would like to share. First: life is short, one does not know when one may kick the bucket and therefore each moment and each day have to be lived to its fullest; and second: if I chose to be part of something, I give it my best shot and try and make a difference that will be HC remembered.
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Culture has strategy for breakfast:

Discovering the thrills and perils of organizational culture at MSMEs
However, small and medium business owners are at times, sensitive to culture issues. Since in India lack of local cultural sensibilities can prove to be an expensive shortcoming, many small and medium business owners may demonstrate a good understanding of local cultural issues. But this sensibility may not translate to anything more than creating a set number of leaves for employees to enjoy their special festivals or at times, organizing special celebrations around such cultural events. This approach to culture, though welcome, is a superficial one as it addresses typical employee or workforce aspects of community culture. The more deeprooted aspects of employee culture that govern the workplace require a different orientation altogether. While the former may result in improved employee relations, it is the latter type that defines the way people work and the way work gets done that determines business sustainability. In the interactions that this author has had with several small and medium business entrepreneurs, the desire to address the deeper and significant aspects of organizational culture generally manifests itself in the aspiration to create better discipline, communication, transparency, trust, team relations, and productivity. The list is endless here but it is certainly indicative of the kind of workplace owners wish to create. Obviously, there is an interesting tug of war between what the leadership at a small and medium business wants on the culture front and what the employees expect. And to complicate the situation further, the solutions small and medium business leaders have in mind, sometime for the same problem, may be quite different. One entrepreneur for instance, wanted a huge list of policies and procedures governing almost every aspect of employee life in his organization. Apparently, this gentleman wanted to stifle employee resistance to some of the initiatives he wished to launch at his firm, through an elaborate maze of rules and standards. Another entrepreneur, however, wished to bring around his undisciplined employees through some motivational training. While discussions around what kind of organizational culture organizations have and wish to create find greater echoes in academic circles, there is definitely a strong need to articulate what practices exist in the area particularly with respect to MSMEs. One interesting model that this author has found useful focuses on unraveling organizational culture by asking the senior leadership the following series of questions: 1. What are some typical characteristics about your workplace? How would you define it? 2. How does the leadership approach issues? 3. How are employees managed? 4. What holds employees together at the workplace? 5. What is the company's overall objective? 6. How is the organization measuring its success? When owners and employees at an organization answer the above questions separately, a clear pattern emerges in terms of what the employer wants and what the employees are ready to give. Interestingly, it is not just the see-saw between employer expectations and employee aspirations that is captured through such an audit. The process also helps understand why an organization regularly experiences employer-employee conflagrations. In one MSME for instance, the employees defined their existing
Sumeet Varghese
or the many Micro Small and Medium Enterprises that set-up, grow and branch out into larger entities, one of the most pressing issues to address and manage is organizational culture. While generally speaking "culture" can be quite a confusing and complicated term to define in the organizational context, there is no doubt that it is as real and tangible an entity as the products or services that a business markets and sells. However, the value and potency of organizational culture particularly in enabling or stunting organizational growth in the small and business medium segment remains for all practical purposes, at best a mystery and at its worst a buzzword. In many ways, this lack of attention on a very fundamental and basic principle of human organization can be attributed to the general disregard for grappling with the softer but equally powerful intangibles governing the workplace.
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workplace as cold and informal and their future workplace as a place where there is personal sharing and strong team bonding. The senior leadership at the same MSME was identified as focusing more on efficiency and smooth running of the organization rather than on mentoring and nurturing the workforce. Apparently, the leadership's cultural aspiration was to develop an environment where systems and rules govern the workplace and support the creation of a more stable and permanent line of business. It didn't help any bit that the leadership's formal attitude especially when interacting with employees had also subtly crept into workplace interactions. While employees expected greater informality as the basis for working together, the management thought it fit to bring employees together through well-laid out codes of conduct. Moreover, as the company's overall objective was to create permanence through systems and controls, employee risk-taking and innovation was put on the back-burner and the drive to seize the market quickly equally sidelined. Obviously the management's slow and cautious approach to developing its foothold in the market had disengaged employees who apparently believed in moving quickly. In some ways, the way small and medium business owners approach culture issues also reflect their own cultural preferences. While some owners may be conscious of it, others choose to turn a blind eye. In the absence of such awareness, many top management cultural prescriptions are doomed. At one MSME, the owner's focus on constant innovation did not match his appetite for risk-taking. So while he pursued a lot of cosmetic changes he never really had the stomach to digest any risk at a personal level or at the level of employees. At the employee level, aspiring for stability and permanence in the face of the changes thrust on them from the top made more sense. This resulted in a curious see-saw where on the one hand, the owner was busy dismantling and structures whereas on the other, the employees were busy trying to retain and maintain the status quo. The organization was clearly the loser in this tug of war. In another MSME, the adhocracy in operations and the lack of systems and processes had lead to a situation where the employees had themselves begun to appreciate the culture that flowed from the top. Thus when the management decided to have a regular monthly meeting with the employees in order to understand employer-employee issues, it was perceived as another ad hoc move. The meetings culture that began with much fanfare barely lasted 2 months and died a natural death. Organizational culture - for whatever it is worth, is too serious an intangible to be left to accident and chance. At the very least it can seriously undermine a business's well-laid plans. Understanding and awareness obviously is the first step to taking stock of what is going on under the surface. Taking concrete steps to shape it HC and leverage it is the next big leap.
Sumeet Varghese is an independent management consultant.
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riday morning at 9.15 a.m. there was a festive mood everywhere on the eve of Christmas. The day was not as usual for Pentaiah. There was a descending pall of gloom and sense of uneasiness clearly visible on his face. Pentaiah moved in without responding to 'good morning' complements from the receptionist, even forgetting to register the attendance. He sat in his cabin for a while looking at the outside world from the glass window of his 6th floor office of ZeusInd at the busy BandraKurla suburb of Mumbai. He reminded himself, the famous quote of great American poet Ralf Waldo Emerson "People only see what they are prepared to see". He drafted a brief resignation letter citing personal reasons for exit and requested the country head for relieving him at the earliest. ZeusInd is a wholly owned Indian subsidiary of ZeusInt Pharmaceuticals, a Spanish Pharmaceutical major having strong presence in Europe and
moderate level of presence in MiddleEast and South Asia. The company is known for its path breaking research and strong marketing credentials in Europe while in other parts its marketing division works with partners. ZeusInt has twenty of its research molecules in market with some of the patents having huge demand in the countries it operates. ZeusInt also has an API (Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients) manufacturing and marketing arm, which supports ZeusInt as 70% of the products are for captive consumption. ZeusInt has also diversified into animal health, which is a part of the veterinary division of the company. The company is also known for its strong ethical commitment, high performance, but, conservative culture. ZeusInd, the Indian subsidiary of ZeusInt has its corporate and marketing office in Mumbai, which supports the product sourcing of raw material API and finished formulations for European and
Middle East markets. It also sources and markets the generic products and outsources some of its analytical, clinical and research activities with different partners. ZeusInd has close to 75 people working at Mumbai office supporting different functions such as purchase, quality assurance, generic development, clinical research and business development apart from core marketing team. Sabrish Kumar in his mid 40s was Country Head for Indian operation for the last four years. In fact, he is a founder country head when the company made forays into Indian market. He has a M.Sc. in Microbiology and MBA with dual specialization in Marketing and HR. He was rated as an excellent performer and hard task master though his people related skills many times were questioned by his colleagues. He had nearly fifteen years of experience and had worked for some of the best known brands in pharmaceutical sector in India. He was temperamentally conservative in
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nature, having relatively strong hierarchical mindset and stickler for deadlines. Pentaiah in his mid thirties was Manager Business Development with the company. He hailed from a small village, thirty miles from the city limits of Hyderabad in Ranga Reddy district. He is a M.Sc. in Zoology and also he attended a short term specialized course in Sales and Marketing Management including a month long sponsored General Management Program for middle level executives at a leading management institute in India. He joined ZeusInd two years back considering the company's brand identity, global reach and scope for learning in a potentially high performance work environment. His decade long experience in pharmaceutical sector in medium sized pharmaceutical companies in India had given him good exposure to sales, markets, exports and business development. He was viewed as an energetic, self motivated individual and jovial in nature. His colleagues always looked at him for support and guidance. He always inspired his team members with stories, mostly during lunch and tea breaks from his travel experience to domestic and international destinations for business development. He regularly brought chocolates for his colleagues whenever he was back form overseas. ZeusInt like many European companies had a flat organizational structure with three levels in most of the departments unlike a hierarchical system in India, which is the main reason for the lesser power distance between the boss and the subordinates. The day to day benefits were extended to everybody with a sense of equity and no such privileged treatments were accorded to only bosses. ZeusInt as a matter of principle was not inclined to have a taller hierarchy in India which had three layers which includes the officer, manager and the country head. The same structure was in existence in ZeusInt head quarters in Spain. ZeusInt had its headquarters in Madrid and for the subsidiary in India ZeusInd; the staff had to report to the present Country Head Sabrish
reporting
The reporting structure of an organization describes how power and control is run throughout the organization which displays how the lines of control reach the different functional areas and geographies. Akin to the problems of a matrix organization, the quote of an anonymous person, "Credit is drawn upwards, but, problems are pushed downwards" suits this case well!
DUAL
BY MANAS RANJAN TRIPATHY
Kumar. The reporting relationship is dual as prevalent in organizations with a matrix structure. The key people in different departments directly report to country head in India and then functional reporting to the respective functional heads in parent company in Europe. ZeusInd was under the Business Development and Support Function and Country Head, Sabrish Kumar who reported to Wilson, the Director-Business Development in Madrid. However, subordinates in
India were reporting to Sabrish Kumar for administrative and business related matters, but for functional activities of work they reported to functional heads in Europe like the QA Manager was reporting to Sabrish Kumar, but, also reported to VP Quality Assurance in Madrid. Similarly, Manager -Purchase was reporting to Sabrish Kumar in India, but, functionally reporting to Head Purchasing in Finland and R&D and Business Development Managers in
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India were also reporting to respective functional heads in Europe. Pentaiah as Manager Business Development was responsible for business development for Indian subsidiary as well as for its parent company in Spain. Pentaiah had to travel a lot in India, in South Asia and Middle East regions for business development. Not only was he responsible for business development for Indian subsidiary, but, also to some extent for its parent company and licensing contracts (out licensing and co-development) with the companies in Asia. He had to initiate and execute the deal depending upon the suitability, logistics feasibility and negotiate good supply price with associates to do business with the head quarter directly. Pentaiah had the target of 12 million Euros for the year 2008. European companies follow a different system as compared to India that means financial year is same as calendar year. Pentaiah had seven million Euros business target for Indian Subsidiary and five million Euros of business development for its parent company. Apart from that he had two million Euros target as cash (licensing and royalty fee) of which 80% was to be shared with Spain and 20% with India subsidiary. And, as the technology and patents were of parent company, 80% of its cash revenue had to be channeled to Madrid. The company annually reviews its business and financial targets/ achievements for the year in progress in October and sets targets and finalizes the budget for the next year. Last year, Pentaiah had achieved 120% of targets for the parent company and Indian subsidiary. He was felicitated for his superb achievement by Director, Global Business Development, Wilson, at the group's head quarters in Madrid. He was also being touted as one amongst the brightest high potential young leaders of the company by top management. His achievements acted as nemesis within no time. He felt the pinch from both sides as Sabrish Kumar wanted him to do more for him, same also his functional boss Mac. He was supposed to achieve specified business targets for Indian subsidiary ZeusInd as well as for the parent company ZeusInt. Sabrish Kumar had a point to say that Pentaiah was in the payroll of ZeusInd, hence he needed to pay more attention to the Indian subsidiary to generate more business for the Indian arm of ZeusInt. His functional head Mac who was Director, Business Development at head quarters was absolutely not happy as Pentaiah was not able to sign any new contracts for its parent company. He was insisting that at least from Middle East, he should be getting new business deals so that he could achieve his targets. Mac was not in a position to influence Sabrish Kumar due to complex nature of reporting relationship though both Sabrish and Mac reported to Wilson. Sabrish Kumar was very autocratic in his dealings and bothered least about the quantum of business being generated for HQ. He was simply concerned about his portion of EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) of twelve million Euros. So, he used to make Pentaiah travel extensively within India, so that he could generate more business for Indian subsidiary undermining Pentaiah's overseas commitments. Simultaneously, he would insist Pentaiah to generate some export business for ZeusInd whenever he travels abroad for HQ work. So the figures for Pentaiah in October were looking like: revenue for India - nine million Euros with a target of seven million Euros, an achievement of 130%. And revenue for HQ was three million Euros with a target of five million Euros, an achievement of 60%. So, total revenue target was twelve million Euros, a target of 100%. In addition, cash (licensing and royalty) was one million Euros with a target of two million Euros, an achievement of 50%. Pentaiah could not travel much overseas due to pressure from Sabrish Kumar to contribute more to Indian business. Also, mostly from India as there would be lesser expenses of overseas travel by which it would not
MANAS RANJAN TRIPATHY

Professor (HRM AREA) IBS, Hyderabad
Manas Ranjan Tripathy is a Professor in HRM area with IBS, Hyderabad. He has nearly 15 years of combined experience in academics and research. He is a Ph.D. in Human Resource Management from Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan and also a recipient of Junior Research Fellowship of UGC. He has also conducted several behavioral training programs for reputed public and private sector organizations. He is also a reviewer for known journals like Vikalpa of IIM-Ahmadabad, Vision of MDI-Gurgaon and IJRM of IRMA. His academic and research interest include individual and organizational learning, high performance culture, case pedagogy, labour-management relations, social dialogue, process in organizations and communities.
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only help him achieve his revenue target, but, also achieve his EBITDA target as well. He was not bothered much about the licensing cash as most of the revenue would go to HQ. Pentaiah was used to get more cash or royalty from overseas markets in Middle-East and not in India as Indian companies were not recognizing patent and technology much, hence were seldom ready to pay the royalty. As he was missing his target substantially for HQ, he was unable to understand what he would be answering while the meeting would be held on 15th October at Madrid, which was an annual practice. Sabrish Kumar was happy as he was close to achieving the Indian subsidiary business targets and EBITDA both and he had nothing to do with overseas business. For Pentaiah, it was difficult to explain to Mac that because of Sabrish Kumar, he couldn't achieve his targets. How could he say something about his boss when Sabrish was supposed to achieve targets with the efforts of his team members like Pentaiah? Sabrish Kumar would say, it was the responsibility of Pentaiah to achieve those targets for HQ and not part of his own KRA. How could Pentaiah say that Sabrish assigned him so many tasks in India that he had little or no time to go to overseas markets for business development for HQ? Targets were achieved, but, only 60% for HQ and 50% in cash. For ZeusInt, Madrid it was also important to achieve cash apart from deal revenues. Though the total revenue target was achieved, but, it was all in favor of Indian subsidiary and 50-60% achievement was not acceptable by any standard in any company when it comes to HQ level. So the dual reporting was proving to be a bane for Pentaiah. He was sure in his mind that once he returned from Madrid by 20th October he would be asked to explain. As a matter of the fact, even if he complained about Sabrish Kumar it was highly unlikely that HQ would believe him as Sabrish had given his performance on record. Even if Pentaiah were given a chance to survive for next year 2009, what would be his relationship with Sabrish Kumar again, might be more difficult to sustain in future. The inevitable happened. He drew flak from Mac and other senior functionaries from HQ. He was asked to submit a detailed written explanation for poor show with veiled warning for consequences if explanation found to be unsatisfactory. Pentaiah, under duress decided to reveal the truth. The HQ decided to give him one more chance considering his past performance records and even mildly censured Sabrish Kumar. The HQ also asked both Sabrish and Mac for better coordination for the next year. The relationship between Pentaiah and Sabrish deteriorated dramatically. For small reasons, Pentaiah was pulled up constantly. Pentaiah finally decided to have a direct word with Sabrish on all matters including the recent developments. Sabrish was unmoved. His voice was with full of sarcasm, "Pentaiah, I don't want any further explanation. Your actions speak your intents. It's difficult to trust you on face value." Pentaiah couldn't proceed further. He left Sabrish's room in a huff. He was thoroughly disgusted with the dual reporting conundrum and decided to put in his papers the next day.
ow often have we seen high profile hires struggle to click or even start off? Also, isn't it common to see high potential employees and star performers suddenly fade away, perhaps also leave quite disillusioned? Pentaiah is a classic example of the latter. Some organizations unknowingly create complexities in its eco system which results in situations similar to above. At the end it is the organization which is the loser. One of the key ingredients of successful performance is clarity of roles and responsibilities with clear communication coupled with good enabling environment. While Pentaiah's roles and responsibilities were possibly quite clear, the support mechanism provided by the organization through combination of Sabrish and Mac (his managers) as well as their boss Wilson failed to address the complexities that they had
created at their level resulting in an exit situation of a high performer. ZeusInt Pharmaceuticals is an example of a matrix organization. In its simple form, matrix is a grid like organizational structure that enables a company to address several business priorities using multiple command structures. Dual reporting, like the one seen in this case is very common in a matrix structure. At times a person could be potentially reporting to more than two managers as well. Matrix structures emerged way back in the 1960s in the aerospace industry. Matrix organizations have huge advantages while having some inherent flaws. Most CEOs prefer matrix structures as their strength outweighs their weaknesses. Some of the major advantages of matrix structures are: They are able to leverage vast
resources while staying small and task focused. The resources can be easily moved across functions, countries or other units. Allows organization to focus on several goals at the same time. Helps in better information flow. Improves speed of response to the external demands. Despite these potential benefits, matrix structures are not without problems. In a matrix structure, each employee reports to two or more managers. This situation is highly conducive for conflict because multiple managers are in charge of guiding the behaviors of each employee. Power struggles, ego and turf wars among managers are very common in a matrix structure. As managers are more interdependent compared to a traditional or single command structure, they will need to spend more effort coordinating
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their work. From the employee's perspective, there is potential for interpersonal conflict with team members as well as with their managers. The presence of multiple managers may create role ambiguity or, worse, role conflict-being given instructions or objectives that cannot all be met because they are mutually exclusive. Let us examine some potential issues that are experienced in a matrix structure and how to overcome such challenges. Goals and objectives are not aligned: This is a common challenge that is seen in a matrix organization. Competing or conflicting objectives between matrix dimensions, inadequate processes to align goals, objectives and detect possible misalignments could be a huge recipe for failure. Insufficient communication and consultation between matrix dimensions further aggravates the situation. It is necessary to establish processes to ensure that goals and metrics are aligned. Successful matrix organizations begin the year with setting and cascading the goals vertically and horizontally across the organization. When done properly the goals will add up both vertically as well as horizontally and each one will reinforce the other. Apart from doing this, the key to success also lies in effective communication. The vision and the objective of the company must be communicated constantly to make it very clear that 'overarching goals' are more important that 'local goals'. In matrix organization some amount of conflict and discord in rank and files is inevitable. The constant communication helps in reinforcing the priorities, reduces the discords and brings in alignment. Ambiguity in roles and responsibilities are inherent: The issues around these are ambiguous roles and job descriptions creating tension among employees. Confusion over who is the boss and not knowing whom to contact for information or during distress. In a matrix organization while typically the responsibilities are clear at the top level, at the middle and lower levels it is somewhat addressed in a weak manner. To avoid this, organizations need to establish clear guidelines and descriptions on roles/areas of responsibility, assign accountability for business objectives and provide a single point of contact for information or approval for areas of responsibility. Silo focused employees: Most matrix organizations find it difficult to address this flaw. These problems compounds when the organization is very large. Each member becomes loyal to his/her own unit or function or country and fails to see the big picture. Personal conflicts, withholding of resources, lack of trust between managers and direct reports are commonly experienced. The reason that employees become silo focused over a period of time is lack of collaborative culture. It could be also due to inherent flaws in performance management system which promotes such dysfunctional behaviours. Careers of employees often gets restricted to a particular part of the overall matrix structure hence the person is not able to see the big picture. Even seasoned leaders can stumble with the idea of collaborative approach so vital for success in matrix environment. For example, studies have revealed that leaders who operate with command and control skills developed in traditional hierarchical organization have difficult time functioning in the matrix structure. Having analyzed the matrix structure let us examine this case from Pentaiah's point of view. He is certainly a high performer and even this year he has surpassed his targets in India and have achieved the HQ targets reasonably well given the constraints presented to him. Given the fact that he is based in India, gets more face time from Sabrish, hence it is inevitable that he is driven more by his priorities as he is under his direct command and control daily. In dual reporting when managers are geographically not close to each other and the direct report happens to be physically closer to one then it is often the case that we have seen with Pentaiah. Secondly, in dual reporting if each manager have their own targets and the performance
RAJORSHI GANGULI
Vice President & Head Corporate - HR Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Limited
Rajorshi Ganguli holds a PGDPM from XISS, Ranchi and was the gold medalist of his batch. He has over 17 years of experience in diverse areas of HR such as competency modeling, leadership development, talent management, recruitment, performance management, learning & development, employee engagement and managing innovation. He has worked both in corporate and business HR partner roles. He has also worked with companies like BPCL and Usha Martin. He is a "Certified Management Trainer" from AIMA and is a regular speaker in different industry forums. He was conferred the National Young Managers Championship Award by AIMA and "Indira Super Achievers Award" for excellent contribution to the profession. He did his
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management system incentivizes achievement of individual targets, gives no consideration to overall company targets or joint targets of both the managers then we have built in inherent flaws and role conflict for the direct reports. The current situation could have been averted by timely action, either jointly by Sabrish and Mac or by Wilson or all together. The organization review processes should have had inbuilt mechanisms to bring in both Sabrish and Mac together and conduct joint review of the progress of Pentaiah's goals every month. This would have given all of them the opportunity to understand each other's priorities and also given a platform to Pentaiah to voice his concerns or support that he required for effective performance, quite in advance. In addition to the above, Wilson at his level should have encouraged a joint review once a quarter. He being the reviewer should have sensed this quite in advance and encouraged straight communication to Sabrish to allow Pentaiah to devote time to HQ goals. Just merely conducting reviews may not solve all the problems unless the reward systems for the two managers have substantial linkages to the overall goals. Sabrish is a classic case of a silo minded manager exhibiting a thinking pattern which promotes 'local optima' rather than 'global optima'. The current situation must also be observed from an interesting dimension that ZeusInd is a subsidiary of ZeusInt. In a situation where there are two entities driven by different P&L targets, albeit one under a parent company, one must carefully craft a matrix structure and relationship. In this kind of situation, was it really necessary to have a dual reporting in different entities or ideally there could have been two people pursuing the goals - one in HQ (counterpart of Pentaiah in the HQ) and another in India? In my view a situation like this can be best avoided at the design stage itself. Inherent complexities are too many in these structures and it requires high degree of maturity to avert these failures. Having gone through the case it is important to draw some lessons and ensure how one could avoid these situations in an organization. In a matrix structure it is very important to clearly define the roles and responsibilities along with accountabilities. The expectations from all employees (managers and their direct reports) should be clearly explained upfront without ambiguity. While most matrix structures explain the roles and responsibilities at the top, but, it is essential to define it precisely at the ground level too. 'What gets measured gets done' the performance management system must clearly articulate metrics for the managers and ensure that they are interdependent so that both managers are accountable for the success of each other. This would prevent silo approach. Defining escalation mechanisms in case employees are stuck in ego wars or under silo focused managers should be clearly highlighted. Role of reviewers becomes highly important. For success of a matrix structure it is important to establish a good review mechanism where the interdependent goals and achievement against it are openly discussed in everyone's presence. It should be done monthly and quarterly, not preserved as a yearend exercise only. While adopting a matrix structure the role of training cannot be undermined. Most organizations even do not recognize this as a necessity. Successful matrix organization provides ongoing training to reinforce desired behaviours that are acceptable. They also train on nuances of matrix structure, how to resolve conflicts, vision and value systems to broaden employees' perspectives. Rotation of employees across functions, and geographies can be practiced to develop appreciation for overall vision and break the silo approach. Lastly, the organizational culture plays an important role in the success of a matrix structure. Being collaborative, promoting team work, willing to listen and having respected for individual are some of the essential pillars for success. While promoting these cultures right from the top, it is also mandatory to send signals to employees what behaviours are not tolerated with visible actions when the same is violated. This would probably thwart a Pentaiah kind of situation.
AIMA 12th National Management Corporate Quiz

AIMA 12th National Management Quiz For Corporate (NMQ ) has been designed as an innovative, interactive programme to facilitate a copious flow of knowledge and ideas packaged in exciting rounds. Learning through management quizzing is fun and goes beyond the traditional bounds of management training. OBJECTIVES To assess and review awareness level on core management issues as well as latest developments in management concepts and practices To benchmark knowledge with others in an environment of healthy competition and lots of fun To hone skills in lateral thinking, teamwork and decision making under pressure To feel stimulated and inspired to accelerate learning curves The NMQ covers general management, marketing, advertising, HRM, finance & capital markets, business events and personalities in the news. The NMQ is initially started with Regional Rounds at Kolkata, Mumbai, New Delhi & Chennai. Winners from each region are then invited to compete at the Grand Finale. The 12th edition of the NMQ is scheduled to be held during December 2011 and we expect over 250 teams to participate in this prestigious contest this year. For further enquires contact Priyanka Pandey Tel : 011 - 24608535 / 24605100 Extn 535 /122 Mob : 9910018302
December 2011
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atrix organization gained popularity in the late 70s and early 80s mainly among the European companies as these companies began to expand globally. A need to maintain local market responsiveness and global product/services consistency found many managers playing dual roles. The principal identifying characteristic of a matrix organization is the dual reporting structure of different managers and areas of business. In most matrix organizations there is command responsibilities assigned to product/service department and area/ geographic based office/department. Most of the European companies believe in two major things - one is flatter organization structure and economies of scale which is the main objective of any matrix organization. These organizations consolidated divisional overheads and support staffs. ZeusInt Pharmaceuticals which is a Spanish pharmaceutical major having strong presence in Europe and moderate level of presence in MiddleEast and South Asia also believes in the same principle of economies of scale and flatter organization. They started their operation in India in the name of ZeusInd in Mumbai with a small team to look after the Indian Market and few responsible for Middle East & South Asia. Country Head Sabrish Kumar being from Indian Corporate background was never comfortable with the matrix structure and believes in hierarchical structure and at the same time a hard task master. Most of the employees had a dual reporting structure and responsible for both Indian operation and to their parent company as well. Same goes for Pentaiah who was the business development manager. The matrix structure superimposes the product structure laterally over the functional structure. The result is creation of dual line of authority that is balanced by the top managers. It is formulated with the desire to maximize the strengths and minimizing the weakness of the both structures. Since there is a conflict of interest between the country head and the business development manager the
ANIL MOHANTY
Business Partner - HR Uninor Corporate Office
Anil Mohanty is the HR Business Partner at the Dy. General Manager level at Uninor Corporate Office, Gurgaon, having more than 16 years of experience in HR. He has worked with telecom companies like Idea Cellular, Tata Teleservices & Huawei Telecommunication. He is skilled in handling large workforces, maintaining peaceful and amicable work environment in the organization, and in initiating measures for the benefit of people in the organization. Anil is a strategic planner and proficient in handling competency mapping, talent management, employee relations, discipline management, manpower planning & recruitment, reward & recognition system, executive development performance management, etc. and has demonstrated acumen in developing new workers, retaining current workers and attracting highly skilled workers to work for the company.
overall performance of the company went down. As the business development manager for both Indian Sub Continent & Middle East & South Asia he was supposed to deliver the desire result as per targets which he failed. Sabrish Kumar was rated as a brilliant performer, however, a tough task master, was low in people management skills, conservative in nature, having relatively strong hierarchical mindset and strict disciplinarian as far as the deadlines were concerned. In contrast, Pentaiah was a young, vigorous, self motivated individual and cheerful manager. He was well capable of achieving the targets and has shown the results, which has been well appreciated by the HQ management. Sabrish being autocratic in nature wants to have full control on Pentaiah and was not allowing him to spare his time for overseas market. Due to lack of focus on international targets he was heavily pulled down by his functional manager at HQ. The major challenge from the employee's point of view is: Lack of authority Confusion and ambiguity for you and the team Feeling out of control Time pressures In a dual or multi-faceted reporting structure, two hierarchies work synonymously under the umbrella of one corporate entity. The cardinal advantage of a matrix structure is that it facilitates rapid response to change in two or more environments. For instance, a telecommunications company might be extremely concerned about both unforeseen geographic opportunities and limited capital. By departmentalizing its company with the financial function on one axis and the geographic areas on the other, it might benefit from having each of its geographic units intertwined with its finance department. For example, suppose that an opportunity to purchase the cellular telephone rights for a specific area arose. The matrix structure would allow the company to quickly determine if it had the capital necessary to purchase the license and develop the area, or if it should take
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advantage of an opportunity in another region. There are several key advantages to the matrix organization. First, this design often enhances communication and commonality of purpose among managers; indeed, it literally forces managers to discuss and agree on the most strategic and operational issues. Second, it permits flexible use of organization's human resources. Thirdly, matrix designs offer companies an efficient means of responding quickly to changing or unstable environment. Matrix structures are flatter and more responsive than other types of structures because they permit more efficient exchanges of information. In addition to speed and flexibility, matrix organization may result in a more efficient use of resources than other organic structures. This occurs because highly specialized employees and equipment are shared by departments. Other benefits of matrix management include improved motivation and more adept managers. Improved motivation results from decision-making within groups becoming more democratic and participatory because each member brings specialized knowledge to the tableand since employees have a direct impact on day-to-day decisions, they are more likely to experience higher levels of motivation and commitment to the goals of the departments to which they belong. More adept management is the result of top decision makers becoming more involved in, and thus better informed about, the day-to-day operations of the company. This involvement can also lead to improved long-term planning. Despite their many theoretical advantages, matrix management structures have been criticized as having a number of weaknesses. The major disadvantages of the matrix design have always lain in the confusion it can create around the authority and accountability, its potential to foment or unmask power struggle, and the stress it places on individuals who must report to two bosses within the matrix organization. When you move away from the unity of command concept, ambiguity is ordinarily increased, resulting in operational tension, which often leads to conflict. Confusion and ambiguity also creates opportunity for mischievous behavior, as managers maneuver control of various resources, rights and authorities. Other risk of matrix organization include a tendency toward group decision making, resulting in decision strangulation and potential large overheads, where matrices start to develop inside matrices. Many companies have blamed their troubles on matrix organizations while deeper inspection reveals that failures are the result of other factors like culture, lack of clarity on the strategy or business model, managerial competency gaps, which are exacerbated under the matrix design. Many firms have learned that human factors, such as understanding and alignment, are huge drivers of matrix success. In fact, many believe that effective matrix management is as much a function of "frame of mind" as it is of the organization structure. In general, matrix structures are assumed to be most appropriate for larger corporations that operate in unique
December 2011
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or fast-paced environments. Matrix management further requires a workforce that has a diverse set of skills and employees that have strong interpersonal abilities. The practice is most associated with highly collaborative and complex projects. The only way to avoid this problem is to design the organization in such a way that relationships are based on clear mutual commitment and values. In this particular case of ZeusInd both the country head and business development manager lacked in mutual commitment and values. In any organization the senior management has to play a vital role, they have to be a role model for the rest of the team members. Sabrish was never convinced about the dual reporting since the inception of the Indian operation and was worried about his EBITDA, and on the other hand, Pentaiah was not more assertive with the country head. Lastly, there would have been a clear cut signed KRA/goals by the country head and HQ. Change management: People, more than the structures, are the key to managing complex strategies and organizations. One problem with the change suggested by matrix accountabilities is that it represents a fundamental redefinition of the game being played by the functional groups. Simply redefining rules of the old game will leave some of the players feeling diminished and devalued. It will be important to demonstrate that this is in fact, a significantly different game, and one equally worth playing and winning. A substantial change management is almost always required to align the organization at all levels with the changes proposed. Such a program must begin with leadership team and focus on building the readiness and willingness of each leader to authentically speak in support of change even if the new structure is not precisely what that leader may have wished. While it may be a fad to some, some organizations saw the matrix structure as a way to resolve the classical structure issue of centralization or decentralization of resources to optimize productivity. However, the matrix organization requires a different way of leading and managing - and many companies simply did not lay the necessary groundwork to ensure the success of the matrix. Company after company started to abandon the matrix organization, with even management gurus like Tom Peters decrying its complexity. "The disappearance of the matrix is due, in part, to the trend toward more cross-border integration Also, newer forms are being adapted where the matrix would have been used in the past." Yet, in informal discussions with colleagues and from an analysis of the organizational structures of global companies today, it seems like the matrix form is alive and well in today's organizations - albeit having evolved from its early days. Why? Perhaps, there is no bigger driver for the reemergence of the matrix than organizations' increasing use of teams - virtual, project, cross-functional and global - to improve speed of delivery, customer responsiveness, cost concerns and productivity. The impetus for these kinds of teams that are so pervasive in organizations today is similar to what drove many to create the matrix form in the first place - a business need to be more nimble and to move quickly, to get people with different disciplines to work effectively together, and to get around the issues of hierarchy. However, many of the issues faced by those companies that started and abandoned the matrix form are still relevant for and need to be addressed by companies today. For those companies with teams in a matrix structure, what lessons can they learn about making matrix management work? 1. Define roles and responsibilities up front. In a matrix, as well as with many of today's teams, there are at least two sets of roles that are important to define: the matrix leader who is reporting to at least two bosses (one is the functional boss - the boss to whom he/she ordinarily reports to, and the other is the matrix boss), and the two bosses themselves. In some cases, the matrix leader may have a "day job" as well as being responsible for leading a matrix team. It is important to make sure that the two bosses agree on their roles and responsibilities vis--vis the matrix team, especially around decisionmaking authority. This is best done through a facilitated discussion and with the use of a RACI ( Who is responsible? Who is accountable? Who should be consulted? Who will implement?) 2. Agree on performance goals and metrics. This can be done at the beginning of the year, during the objective-setting process, or when the team is first formed, as part of its charter. The matrix team leader should draft a set of objectives and metrics and make sure that this is negotiated with and agreed to by both of his or her bosses. 3. Set up basics or operating agreements on resource allocation and communication. Who will be responsible for approving and overseeing the budget for the matrix team - the functional boss to whom the matrix leader reports or the boss of the matrix team? When additional resources are needed (financial or human), who will be responsible? What are the expectations with regard to the matrix leader's communication with the two bosses, as well as between the two bosses? The two bosses, along with the matrix leader, should work out some agreements in advance to avoid confusion and conflicts later on. 4. Determine how evaluations and rewards are going to be decided. Who will evaluate the performance of the team and the leader, and how will rewards be decided? Again, the two bosses need to agree on a process and create some simple mechanisms. An important foundational element in matrix organizations and teams today is that of trust. As Steven Covey and others have pointed out, trust is central to many organizations today. You can see that with matrix organizations and teams especially, building that sense of trust is the oil that will make this form of organization run smoothly and be successful. A careful investment of time and effort early on to build this trust through the four actions above HC will pay significant dividends.
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Q: A:
Our parent company has a global Code of Ethics and Business Conduct, which has been adopted by the board of directors of local Indian operating companies. I would be grateful if you would advise whether there are specific steps necessary for us to ensure that the Code is applicable to employees in India? (Ashish Gupta) Please note that if the global Code of Ethics and Business Conduct has been adopted by the Board of the Indian companies, the other requirements to make it applicable to employees in India are: (a) Inform each employee of its applicability; and (b) Provide a copy of the Code of Ethics and Business Conduct to each employee (electronic copy would suffice). Please note that policies such as the Code of Ethics and Business Conduct are usually personal to the employer and its business, as they guide employees on the ethical standards that employees should adhere to while dealing with third parties on behalf of the employer. An employer is fully entitled to adopt such ethical practices for the conduct of its business, as it deems appropriate, provided they are legal. An employee, once informed, is obligated to comply with such standards of ethics and business conduct. However, it is possible that some of the provisions in the Code of Ethics and Business Conduct may be construed as "introduction of new rules of discipline, or alteration of existing rules" in relation to conditions of work/service. In this regard, please note that Section 9A of The Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 requires an employer, who proposes to effect any change in the conditions of service applicable to any workman in respect of any matter specified in Fourth Schedule, to effect such change only after twenty one (21) days of giving a notice of the change proposed to be effected to the workman. Entry 9 of the aforesaid Fourth Schedule specifies "Introduction of new rules
of discipline, or alteration of existing rules". Separate from the above, please note that the provisions of the Code of Ethics and Business Conduct should at least be compliant with requirements under Indian laws such as the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and other applicable Indian laws.
Q:
We are a business consultancy firm. We have an apprehension that some of our employees may be engaged in other businesses or part time jobs outside our firm. We wish to restrict them from doing such activities. Is it fine if we include specific provisions in our appointment letters and firm policies in this regard? Is it advisable to include such restrictions for part time or causal workers also? (Namrata Chawla)
K. V. SINGH
Senior Partner
Kochhar & Co
A:
An organization has every right to restrict its employee(s) from engaging in any other trade, business or profession during the term of employment. Such restrictions are imposed to ensure that the employees devote their full time and energy to the organization only. Your company is free to incorporate a specific provision in the employment agreements, HR Policies or the employee code of conduct or similar employee guidelines, restricting / prohibiting the employees from taking up any other trade, employment or business during their employment. In case such restrictions are expressly stipulated, instances of engaging in other trade, employment or business may be seriously dealt with and appropriate disciplinary proceedings may be initiated against the erring employees. In certain circumstances, this could also tantamount to 'cheating' under the Indian Penal Code, 1860. It would further be a serious issue if an employee is engaged in employment with a competitor of the employer. On the other hand, with respect to employees engaged in casual or
Krishna Vijay Singh is a senior partner at Kochhar & Co., one of the leading and largest law firms in India with offices at New Delhi, Gurgaon, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Dubai, Riyadh, Jeddah, Singapore, Tokyo and Atlanta (USA). The firm represents some of the largest multinational corporations from North America, Europe, Japan and India (many of which are Fortune 500 companies) in diverse areas of corporate and commercial laws.
seasonal or part time / piece rate jobs, you may consider allowing such employees to take up any other trade, profession or employment during days, hours, or seasons, when they are not required to work with your company, subject to certain conditions. For instance, these employees should be required to disclose the details regarding the alternate work, vocation or business which the employee in question is undertaking or proposing to undertake to the organization.
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Social security benefits

Social security benefits are State supported or sponsored programs or schemes aimed at providing social protection or protection against socially recognized conditions, including old age, disability and unemployment, etc. From a labour welfare perspective, a social security scheme includes monetary benefits to be paid to retired or disabled workers or workers under medical conditions, who had contributed to the social security system during their working years. In India, while the persons employed in public sector are entitled to fairly comprehensive benefits and perquisites, it is the private sector that leaves much to be desired. The social security legislation in India emanates from the Directive Principles of the State Policy as contained in the Constitution of India. The State, i.e., the Government, is required to make effective provision for securing the right to work, education and public assistance in cases of unemployment, old age, sickness and disablement, and in other cases of undeserved want. The Directive Principles also require the Government to ensure just and humane conditions of work and maternity relief. The legal framework on social security includes laws relating to provident fund and pension, maternity benefits, gratuity and compensation to be paid to workmen for personal injuries suffered by them. The social security benefits in India are broadly divided into two categories, namely, contributory and non-contributory. The contributory schemes are funded by contributions paid by workers, employers or both. Under the non-contributory schemes, benefits to be provided to workers are at the cost of the employer. Despite a reasonably wide array of legislations, the social security system in India is not as evolved and established as it is in countries like USA or Europe. The unorganized sector remains largely deprived of these benefits for want of effective laws regulating their conditions of work. Though the Government has formulated policies and programmes for the welfare and security of unorganized sector, these have failed to reach a sizable proportion of the workforce. Even in the organized sector, the social security laws cover a small segment of the workforce. Most of these laws have been designed to have a limited applicability. For example, the EPF Act covers notified establishments only having twenty (20) or more employees. Thus, a person will not be eligible for the provident fund or pension scheme under the Act if he works for a small organisation or an industry not notified under the Act. This needs to be seen in the Indian context, where the labour force is much more than its demand and an unskilled and uneducated worker does not have the liberty to choose his place of work. Even in cases where an establishment is covered under the legislation, all employees would not be entitled to the benefits set out thereunder. The Maternity Act covers only those female employees who have completed the prescribed number of days (or more) in the employment of the establishment. Similarly, the PF Scheme mandatorily covers only those employees whose monthly wages does not exceed Rs. 6500/-. This automatically excludes a large section of the workers as in today's times there are very few workers falling under the ambit of the scheme. Evidently, most of these laws were formulated decades back, when the industry practices and employment conditions were squarely different from the current scenario. However, the laws have not been updated with the changing times. The laws appear to have been enacted to cover persons who are economically weak or those under any medical condition. It is important to consider that in the developed countries, the social security benefits are not confined to a specific class of workers. In the era of globalization, wherein it is common for multinational companies to depute their employees to India or for Indian employees working in other countries, it is important to bring the laws in line with international regulations and practices. Notably, in 2008, the Government extended the provident fund benefits to all international workers working in India, excluding, those who are contributing to the social security programme of the home country with whom India has entered into a social security agreement on reciprocity basis. India has signed such social security agreements with Belgium, Germany, France, Luxembourg and Switzerland. The Government has also taken certain significant initiatives to revamp the social security regime. In early 2010, the wage ceiling under the ESI Act was increased from Rs. 10,000/- to Rs. 15,000/-, thus bringing a large number of employees under the fold of ESI Act. Again in 2010, the maximum amount of gratuity payable to an employee was increased from Rs.3,50,000/- to Rs. 10,00,000/-. These initiatives are significant but not adequate considering the exploitative labour practices in the industry, limited reach of laws and lack of any additional support from the Government for workers not covered under these enactments. A Working Group under the Planning Commission had way back in 2001 recommended a National policy on social security for all sectors. There is clearly a need to overhaul the social security structure, including the enforcement agencies responsible for their implementation.
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Social security laws in India

The Employees' Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 The Employees' Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 ("EPF Act") is applicable, amongst others, to all establishments which employ twenty (20) or more persons and which are notified by the Central Government. The EPF Act provides for the institution of provident funds, pension funds and deposit-linked insurance funds for employees. The Employees' Provident Fund Scheme, 1952 (the "PF Scheme") framed under the EPF Act covers all employees whose monthly wages does not exceed Rs. 6500/-. Under the Scheme, the employer is required to make compulsory contribution at the rate of 12% of the employees' wages. A similar contribution is required to be made by the employee. Generally, in India, most companies and establishments provide provident fund benefits to all employees, even if their wages exceed Rs. 6500/-. Employees' State Insurance Act, 1948 The Employees' State Insurance Act, 1948 ("ESI Act") provides for health care facilities and medical support in the case of sickness, maternity and employment injury. The Act is applicable to non-seasonal factories using power and employing 10 or more employees and non-power using factories and certain other establishments employing 20 or more employees. The Act covers all employees, including casual or temporary employees and contract workers, who are in receipt of a salary upto Rs. 15,000 per month. Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 The Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 ("Maternity Act") is a piece of social legislation enacted to promote the welfare of working women. The Act prohibits the working of pregnant women for a specified period before and after delivery. It also provides for maternity leave and payment of monetary benefits for women workers subject to fulfillment certain conditions. Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972 The Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972 ("Gratuity Act"), casts a statutory duty or obligation on an employer to pay gratuity to its employees on certain events, including, superannuation retirement, resignation (if the employee has rendered continuous service for not less than five years) and death or disablement due to accident or disease. The Workmen's Compensation Act, 1923 The Workmen's Compensation Act, 1923 ("WC Act") provides that if personal injury is caused to a workman by accident arising out of and in the course of his employment, the employer will be liable to pay compensation in the manner specified. The WC Act prescribes the rates of compensation to be paid in cases of death, permanent disablement and temporary disablement respectively. The Building & Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1996 ("BOCW Act") The Government through the BOCW Act has tried to provide social security to the construction workers. The Act, besides providing for the safety, health and hygiene measures for construction workers, also contemplates constitution of State Welfare Boards and a Labour Welfare Fund in every State for the benefit of construction workers. In furtherance of the objectives of the Act, the parliament has also enacted the Building & Other Construction Workers' Welfare Cess Act, 1996 ("Cess Act"). The Cess Act provides for the levy of a cess at the rate of 1% of the cost of construction on every construction work. The proceeds of the cess are deposited into the welfare fund constituted under the BOCW Act. The construction workers can register as the beneficiaries of the fund and are required to make a minimal contribution to the said fund.
1
Report of the Working Group on Social Security for the Tenth Five Year Plan (2002-2007) Government of India, Planning Commission.
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December 2011

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Creative onboarding with work shadowing at Nokia India

Using assessment centers to map competencies

Shouvick Mukherjee VP & CEO of Yahoo! India on breathing innovation

Democratizing leadership: A young leaders vision

India Inc. gears up to create a talent pipeline

December 2011 Volume 15 Issue 7

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Social security benefits

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